Sierra Club Study Finds Clean McHenry County Streams in the Path of Development
"Time to Choose" how Growth Will Impact McHenry Waters
Sierra Club today released the first results of a new effort to gauge the health of several important McHenry County streams. Volunteer testing revealed relatively low levels of pollution in several streams, with higher levels of pollution below wastewater treatment plants of growing towns. Based on their findings, Sierra Club is calling for measures to protect McHenry County's streams from pollution in the face of rapid suburban development.
"We're lucky to have some of the cleanest streams in Illinois here in McHenry County", said Dan Eickemeyer, a Sierra Club volunteer Water Sentinel from Huntley. "Our hope is that we can all do our part to keep them that way."
Volunteers with the Sierra Club's Water Sentinels Program today released the results of over two years of monitoring on streams throughout McHenry County. They contrasted the low levels of pollutants found in some bodies of water with the higher levels they found downstream of towns and their wastewater discharges. The environmental group called for better treatment of runoff and wastewater to maintain the current high quality of many McHenry County streams in the face of increasing development.
Eickemeyer presented the group's findings at the Sun City's Angler's Club meeting Wednesday morning. He showed graphs that illustrated the variation in the levels of phosphate (as PO4-P) found in the 13 streams and one lake the volunteers sampled and analyzed.
Volunteers were particularly encouraged to find very low levels of nutrient pollution in a number of waters: Trout Valley Creek, Silver Creek, Rush Creek, Wildflower Lake and the upper reaches of Crystal Creek and the Fox River. In these waters, concentrations were found as low as the USEPA recommended level of total phosphorus for pristine streams (0.08 mg/L). Medium levels, near average levels for Illinois' rivers and streams, were found in Nippersink Creek.
Sierra Club also found relatively high levels of nutrient pollution downstream of towns and their wastewater discharges. Volunteers found evidence of nutrient pollution in:
- Crystal Creek downstream of the City of Crystal Lake and Village of Lake in the Hills,
- Mokeler Creek in Harvard, and
- the South Branch of the Kishwaukee River in Huntley.
Sierra Club is calling on individuals and state and local government to take action to protect McHenry County's clean streams. Clean water advocates applaud recent actions by the administration of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to protect waters in fast-growing areas like McHenry County from water pollution.
The Sierra Club's effort to monitor water quality in McHenry County will continue.
"Sierra Club will continue to keep watch over these waters, to see how increased development impacts them," said Dr. Cynthia Skrukrud, Clean Water Advocate for the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter. "Hopefully future generations of McHenry County citizens will also know these as clean streams with healthy wildlife and recreation opportunities."
Contact:
Dr. Cindy Skrukrud |
Download:
Time to Choose:
The Future of McHenry County's High Quality Streams