What is the Problem?
Nutrients and Sediment are the two greatest contributors to stream impairment in the local streams of Bloomington, Illinois. Nutrients and sediment negatively impact marine life uses and can inhibit water use for human consumption. Sediment also is a problem in the streams, as it depreciates water clarity for plant life and transport nutrients that may be bound to the sediment.
Stream sites:
There is a monitoring station on Six Mile Creek and another one on Money Creek. At these sites, there are automated solar-powered stations that monitor the stream for water level and turbidity. There are graphs showing the current conditions. We also regularly collect water samples to analyze them for nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations.
Tile sites:
We also have research projects on two different tile drains in the Lake Bloomington watershed.
Why should you care about local streams?
Money Creek and Six Mile Creek flow into Lakes Bloomington and Evergreen. These lakes are important for drinking water, as well as other activities, like fishing. The quality of the water in the streams can end up in affecting the lakes. Poor water quality makes it more difficult to make sure that the drinking water is clean, and can make it harder for the fish and other organisms that live in the water.
How will the data be used?
The City will be more prepared for when the amount or quality of water changes. The City will know how much sediment and nutrients are coming into the lake, and this will help them be more prepared for treating drinking water. This information will help us understand how often the streams have poor water quality, and then we can use to determine whether we should do anything in the watershed to reduce how much nutrient and sediment gets into the streams.
Why are these monitoring stations useful?
Right now, we are only sampling the stream every two weeks. This a bit like only reading every 20th word in a book – it’s hard to know what is really going on. The monitoring stations will be collecting information every 15 minutes, so now it will be as if we were reading almost every word. To learn more about all the different parts of these monitoring stations, you can watch this video (link to video).
The monitoring stations will be constantly measuring the water depth and the turbidity. The water depth will tell how much flooding is occurring and how much water is going into the lake. This will help the City know whether they should be prepared to release water from the dams. The turbidity will tell us how much sediment is in the water. This sediment moves down the stream and into the reservoirs, where it sinks to the bottom, gradually filling up the reservoir. Some sediments also have phosphorus on them, which can cause algal blooms in lakes.
The monitoring stations will also automatically collect water samples during storms. This is important because during storms, more water flows down the stream, and these are the times that most of the nutrients and sediment gets carried to the reservoirs. We will analyze these water samples in the laboratory to determine how much nitrogen and phosphorus are the water. To learn more about how we analyze the samples, you can watch this video (link to the lab). By collecting water samples during storms, we will be able to give the City a heads up about the nutrient conditions, so they will know if they have to make any changes at the drinking water treatment plant.
How healthy are our streams?
Our information from the stream monitoring tells us:
- How high the water level is, and how much water is moving down the streams.
- How much substance is in the water. The more particles of things like soil, the more turbid the water is – the less clear it looks. All these particles have to be filtered out so that the water coming out of our taps is clear and clean! Luckily, many of these particles sink down to the bottom when the water gets to the lake.
- How much nutrients are in the water.
- The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates drinking water quality. For nitrogen, the EPA sets the limit for acceptable drinking water at 10 mg/l.
- These nitrogen concentrations change often depending upon the time of the year and how high the water level is.
Primary Investigator Faculty
Dr. Catherine O’Reilly
Professor of Geology, Hydrogeology Graduate Program Coordinator
cmoreil@ilstu.edu
(309) 438-3493
Dr. Eric Peterson
University Professor of Geology, Hydrogeology Program Coordinator
ewpeter@ilstu.edu
(309) 438-7865
Dr. Bill Perry
Associate Professor of Biology, Adjunct Faculty Member; Department of Geography-Geology, Director of the Environmental Analysis Laboratory
wlperry@ilstu.edu
(309)438-3722