RPG Joins Forest Preserve in Lakes Research Project

By Bob Barbieri

In 2018 the River Prairie Group Water Monitoring Team met with Dan Grigas, Ecologist for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (FPDDC), and Shannon Burns, long-time Water Monitoring Team member and FPDDC staff, to discuss using Water Monitoring Team’s water-collecting and testing capabilities to help with a new research project. The research project involved collecting water samples from three lakes in the Forest Preserve District and analyzing them for four chemical compounds (phosphate, nitrate, ammonia, and chloride), temperature, and pH. The purpose of the research project was to determine if the forest preserve lakes are being impacted, and to what degree, by the same chemical compounds as those found in the streams and rivers of DuPage County.

Round Meadow Lake at Hidden Lake Forest Preserve.
Photo by Caroline Teter

The four chemical compounds pose the greatest threat to DuPage County’s watersheds, but it is worth noting that the first two are not toxins – in fact, they are just the opposite. Categorized as “nutrients,” phosphate and nitrate act as fertilizers that feed algae and aquatic plants, and in sufficient concentrations, fuel their overgrowth, suffocating fish and other river life. This can lead to harmful algal blooms (HABs), which can be toxic to people, pets, and wildlife. Ammonia, too, acts as a fertilizer, but in addition, it is highly toxic to aquatic organisms.

Herrick Lake. Photo by Lisa Warren.

The Forest Preserve Lakes Analysis project began in May 2019 and will be ongoing for the next few years. The lakes that are being sampled are Pickerel Lake in the Pratt’s Wayne Woods FP, Round Meadow Lake in the Hidden Lake FP, and Grove Lake in the Wood Dale Grove FP. Herrick Lake in the Herrick Lake FP was added to the list this August. The sampling and testing have been taking place in May, June, August, September, November, and December (as long as the lakes are not frozen over). These months were chosen so as to best fit into the ongoing monthly sampling and testing of the East and West Branches of the DuPage Rivers and the Salt Creek.

Sampling equipment at Round Meadow Lake. 

Photo by Caroline Teter.

Initial testing results are showing very low concentrations of the chemical compounds in the lake water samples. Additional information about the RPG Water Monitoring Project can be found in the 2020 Status Report on the Condition of the Salt Creek and the East and West Branches of the DuPage Rivers, found here.

A special thanks to our dedicated volunteer water collectors and testers for making this special research project possible.