NAPERVILLE - Sierra Club today released a report summarizing seven years of volunteer river sampling efforts, assessing the health of DuPage County streams, and applauding new efforts to clean them up.

“We have been studying these waters for seven years now, and it is very clear that they are suffering from pollution from a variety of sources,” said Paul Mack, leader of the River Monitoring Project of the Sierra Club's River Prairie Group. “However, it is also clear that many are working hard to clean them up, and those efforts will pay off in cleaner water in the future.”

The report, Restoring DuPage County's Rivers: A Status Report on the Health of Salt Creek and the East and West Branches of the DuPage River tells the story of three rivers impacted by the urban landscape of DuPage County which now are receiving the concerted attention to their health that the Sierra Club first called for in 2001.

While nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the streams remain high and chloride levels spike in winter months when road salt runs off into the streams, a sea change has occurred in DuPage County since the River Prairie Group released its 2001 Troubled Waters in DuPage County report. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has taken strong steps to address these problems, and DuPage River Salt Creek Workgroup is busy assessing the health of the three rivers and exploring means to further their cleanup.

“I'm feeling a lot more confident about the future of the streams of DuPage County,” said Tom Richardson, Sierra Club's representative to the Workgroup and chair of its Salt Creek Subcommittee. “Now we've got the Sierra Club, the Conservation Foundation, wastewater plant operators, local governments, and citizens around the table working together to address the issues facing these streams.”

“The data we collect on these waters is clearly telling us that they are suffering from an overload of pollution,” said Mack. “Nutrient pollution is above acceptable levels almost everywhere we look. Oxygen levels in the West Branch of the DuPage River periodically fall below the minimum standard, indicating that the high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus found in the stream are feeding algae that suck oxygen out of the water. Too much road salt is ending up in our streams after winter storms. On a positive note, all samples we collected had ammonia levels within state standards, indicating that sewage treatment plants are doing a good job removing this toxin from their wastewater.”

Sierra Club cited several developments in the years since they began the project that bode well for water quality in the future:

• Illinois EPA Prepares Cleanup Plan
  When Sierra Club began the project in 2000, Illinois EPA had DuPage's waters on a waiting list for a cleanup plan. Since then, IEPA has completed plans for these streams that document the problems and propose solutions for them.
• Stakeholder Group Formed To Oversee Cleanup
  The DuPage River and Salt Creek Workgroup has been formed by Sierra Club and other clean water advocates, wastewater treatment plant operators, local governments, and other stakeholders in the County; to develop consensus solutions to water quality problems.
• New State Legislation Limits Phosphorus in Dishwashing Detergent
  Sierra Club teamed with wastewater agencies to pass legislation in Springfield significantly cutting phosphorus levels in dishwasher detergent - a contributor to nutrient pollution in DuPage waters.
• The DuPage County Water Quality Stakeholders Committee is working to reduce pollution in urban runoff, particularly nutrients and solids.
• Thorium removal on the West Branch is underway, and $10 million has been appropriated by the federal government for restoration of the West Branch after the cleanup is completed.

These actions are reasons to be hopeful for water quality in the future, but they are just the beginning. Sierra Club is calling for help from those who can help heal these waters:

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency should continue its work toward limits on phosphorus pollution in Illinois rivers. IEPA is currently on track to propose limits in 2008. IEPA should also renew state funding for the Workgroup after the current grant funding expires in 2008.

DuPage County and its municipalities should:

• participate in the new stakeholder groups working to restore the rivers
• consider reducing road salt usage in the winter, and consider alternatives for de-icing roads
• consider banning phosphorus-containing lawn fertilizers
• when permitting development, give streams buffers to prevent polluted runoff from reaching the water
• require erosion controls from construction sites

DuPage County residents should:

• Reduce the use of lawn fertilizers containing phosphorus
• Use phosphorus-free dishwashing machine detergent
• Use native landscaping and other techniques to capture rainwater

Sierra Club plans to take the case for clean water to local leaders and others to seek their support.

“We think DuPage County can have rivers and streams that are healthy and attractive features for residents to enjoy, and that support fish and other wildlife,” said Frank Orto, Chair of the Sierra Club's River Prairie Group, representing 2300 members in DuPage County. “We will be presenting this report to local officials across the county, and engaging their support for clean water. DuPage residents who share these goals are invited to join us.”