RPG Water Monitoring Project

By Kathleen Fischer

For more than 20 years, Sierra Club River Monitoring Project volunteers have sampled and tested local streams in DuPage County. Currently, three sites on the West Branch of the DuPage River, four sites on the East Branch, two sites on Salt Creek, and four Forest Preserve lakes are sampled and tested periodically throughout the year. This means that volunteer water collectors travel to the sites early in the morning, regardless of the weather, and lower a bucket into the water to retrieve a sample to deliver for testing by volunteer water analysts.

Water collection tools ready for early morning samplng
at Hidden Lake Forest Preserve near Lombard
Photo by Water Collector Caroline Teeter

Testing reveals nutrient levels (phosphate, nitrate, and ammonium), as well as other important values (pH, chloride content, and, at select sites, dissolved oxygen levels). All of these indicators can be tracked over time and downstream to monitor the health of the stream for fish and other living creatures. Beside local impacts, the monitoring results are a guide to evaluating the potential contribution of DuPage County streams to the health of the Des Plaines River, and ultimately the Illinois River, the Mississippi River, and the nearshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Over time, this monitoring also can reveal the impacts of urban development (roads, subdivisions, shopping malls, dam building and channel rerouting for flood control, etc.) and practices such as road salting and fertilization of crops and lawns. Sierra Club volunteer water collectors and testers contribute data that otherwise might not be available to the public through its webpage for easy access by citizens, scientists, municipalities, and state and federal agencies. For more details, see river monitoring project  and the links found under “River Monitoring Project” in the menu bar.

Many thanks to these Water Warriors for DuPage County:  

Bob Barbieri

Bruce Beiersdorf

Lynn and Mark Berndt

Mary Ann Ciesla

John Cooper

Patti & Kevin Clower

Joe Dick

Kathleen Fischer

Alison LaBarge

Jill Spealman

Caroline Teter

Judy Toth

Linda Volin

Lisa Warren

Dave Wilderman