Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in Rock Island County, Illinois is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) announced today that new hydrologic and hydraulic modeling of select streams in Peoria County is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify high flood-risk areas for flood mitigation planning.

The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) announced today that new hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in McHenry County, Illinois is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in McHenry County, Illinois, is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

The Illinois State Water Survey will be conducting hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in McDonough County, Illinois, as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk.

The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) announced today that new hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in Massac County, Illinois is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in Macoupin County, Illinois, is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) crews are starting to collect data within the Embarras River watershed as part of a multiple-phase hydrologic and hydraulic study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning. Results from the new study will be used to update the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), which typically depict the 1 percent and 0.2 percent annual-chance floodplains.

Illinois State Water Survey hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in DeKalb County, Illinois, is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning. The first phase of the project, data collection, is anticipated to begin in July 2023 and be completed in early fall 2023. In this phase, surveyors will conduct detailed channel and bridge surveys of streams in or near the community of Sycamore.

The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) is collecting data within the Upper, Middle, and Lower Kaskaskia River watersheds as part of a multiple-phase hydrologic and hydraulic study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning. 

The Illinois State Water Survey is continuing data development for the Embarras River watershed as part of a multiple-phase study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in the Villages of Tiskilwa and Walnut (Bureau County, Illinois) is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in Boone, DeKalb, Ogle and Winnebago Counties, Illinois is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) hydrologic and hydraulic modeling in Boone and Winnebago Counties, Illinois is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

The Illinois State Water Survey (announced today that new hydrologic and hydraulic modeling of the Wabash River and select tributaries is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify high flood-risk areas within the Lower Wabash and Middle Wabash-Busseron watersheds for flood mitigation planning in Illinois.

The Illinois State Water Survey announced today that new hydrologic and hydraulic modeling of the Little Wabash River is underway as part of a study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk along the Little Wabash River and its tributaries for flood mitigation planning.

The Illinois State Water Survey is continuing data development for the Kishwaukee River watershed as part of a multiple-phase study to help local communities identify areas of high flood risk for flood mitigation planning.

The team behind WaterOperator.org and Private Well Class is launching a new podcast to strengthen connections between the many stakeholders involved in ensuring that every American has water that is safe to drink. The first two episodes of Tap Talk: The Drinking Water in Rural America Podcast are available now! 

A model simulation produced by the Illinois State Water Survey shows the progression of the flood in Gibson City from the morning to the evening of Aug. 12, 2021

An Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) team documented the eclipse at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in Simpson, Illinois, to learn how the atmosphere responded to rapid changes in solar radiation as the moon blocked the sun. At the same time, another team recorded climate conditions every 10 seconds at 19 Illinois locations.

The Water Survey has published reports on water demand in three water supply planning regions in Illinois: the Middle Illinois (ISWS Contract Report 2018-0), Kankakee (ISWS Contract Report 2019-01), and Rock River (ISWS Contract Report 2019-02) regions.

Evan Rea, head of the Health and Environmental Applications Laboratory (HEAL) at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.), was recently awarded a grant by the U. of I. Chancellor’s Office to sample private wells in the Chicago metro area. The Chancellor’s Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Injustice Research Program provides $2 million annually to U. of I. researchers to support projects that address systematic racism and social justice, law enforcement and criminal justice reform, and disparities in health and health care.

As the solar eclipse brings a spectacular show in the sky on April 8, viewers can also follow its path online as the Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring (WARM) program at the Illinois State Water Survey offers real-time monitoring of changing weather conditions during the event. 

Scientists at the Illinois State Water Survey have developed an interactive map of where every community in Illinois gets its water. Sources include Lake Michigan, rivers and reservoirs, and groundwater.

The Illinois State Water Survey organized and hosted the 2nd National Private Well Conference May 21-23, 2019 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. There were over 120 attendees from 33 states at the event, which featured 25 presentations, a driller's panel, and a dozen 5-minute lightning talks.

Experts from the Illinois State Water Survey support the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago in making informed watershed management decisions for a vast service area that includes 128 suburban communities in Cook County. 

A series of free half-day seminars will be offered across the state this year to commemorate the Illinois State Water Survey’s 125th anniversary. Seminars will highlight critical water, weather, and climate issues of Illinois. 

When Illinoisans with private wells have questions about their home water supply, the Water Survey’s Public Service Lab can provide answers. Our lab can analyze water from any Illinois well, checking for parameters including calcium, magnesium, iron, arsenic, manganese, sodium, hardness, total dissolved solids, alkalinity, color, turbidity, fluoride, chloride, nitrate, and sulfate. 

Due to projected growth of the population and economy, Illinois could require 20 to 50 percent more water in coming decades. Ensuring adequate and reliable supplies of clean water for all requires us to think ahead. We need to know how much water will be available, how much water we will need, what the options are for providing additional supplies, reducing demand, and what the impacts and costs will be.

Since 2006 the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has tasked the Water Survey with leading regional water supply planning activities for 11 Illinois regions. Learn more about the team that carries out this important activity.

INHS Waterfowl Biologists have been monitoring restored wetlands along the Illinois River to determine if restoration efforts have been successful for waterfowl populations. Chris Young of the State Journal Register went along and documented the diving duck surveys.

Aerial surveys this November showed 20 times more ducks on Lake Chautauqua than during the same period last year. The Green-winged Teal made up the majority of those waterfowl, with conditions on the lake this year being favorable. INHS Waterfowl Biologist Randy Smith said, "Green-winged teal like it when the water is so shallow that they can stand up, just an inch or two deep with lots of vegetation." This year's surveys have found that Lake Chautauqua has more than one third of all the ducks at the 16 sites sampled in the Lower Mississippi River Valley.

INHS Waterfowl Ecologist Aaron Yetter conducts weekly aerial surveys and on Nov 13 found more waterfowl than average for this time of year. Yetter counted 305,310 ducks along the Illinois River compared to the10-year average of 234,434 birds for this same week and 356,735 ducks on the Upper Mississippi River compared to the 10-year average of 226,801 birds. "It looks like we got a big push of new mallards. We also have well above average numbers of pintails, gadwalls, lesser scaup and other species," Yetter said.

Illinois Sustainable Technology Center scientists at the Prairie Research Institute have found that waste plastic can be used to improve sustainable aviation fuel.

2017 was the sixth warmest year on record in Illinois with a statewide average temperature of 54.3 degrees, or 2 degrees above normal, in spite of the very cold ending to December.

November wrapped up a mild, dry fall with more mild temperatures, including several warmer-than-normal days, to tie the 10th warmest November since 1895, according to Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford at the University of Illinois’ Illinois State Water Survey.

March saw rollercoaster temperatures set numerous records and well above average precipitation that improved drought conditions in Illinois, according to Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford at the Prairie Research Institute.

Soil temperatures rose steadily over the first half of April, increasing 11.5 degrees during the first 15 days. At depths of 4 inches under sod, temperatures averaged 54.9 degrees for the period, 4.4 degrees higher than the long-term average.

Soil temperatures at depths of 4 inches under bare soil averaged 79.9 degrees on July 15, 2.1 degrees above the long-term average.

The statewide average temperature for October was 59.8 degrees, 5.4 degrees above normal, and the on record, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel, Illinois State Water Survey, University of Illinois.

"With temperatures in Illinois averaging 59.5 degrees, 4.8 degrees above normal, October was the 9th warmest since 1895," says State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey (http://www.sws.uiuc.edu), a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The statewide average rainfall for October was 1.4 inches, 1.5 inches below normal. This ranks as the 20th driest October on record, according to State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey (http://www.isws.illinois.edu).

This spring was the fourth warmest start to any year on record in Illinois, and the summer has a high chance of above normal temperatures, according to Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford at the University of Illinois’ Illinois State Water Survey.

August 2012 brought relief to much of the Midwest region in the form of near-normal temperatures and much needed rainfall.  No state in the nine-state Midwest region ranked in the top 40 warmest Augusts on record, according to the Midwestern Regional Climate Center (http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu) at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS).  Records date back to 1895.

March was the warmest on record for the nine-state Midwest region, based on preliminary temperature data.  The average temperature for the region was 50.3 degrees Fahrenheit, which breaks the previous record of 46.9 degrees set over 100 years ago in 1910, according to the Midwestern Regional Climate Center (http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu) at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS).

Based on preliminary data, the statewide average temperature for Illinois in April was 58.4 degrees, 6.2 degrees above normal and the warmest April on record. This beats the old record of 58.2 degrees set in 1955, according to State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey (http://www.isws.illinois.edu).

A warmer, wetter winter has caused higher than normal soil temperatures across the state, which could be helping agriculture pests survive the season.

Climate change contributes to gradually warming Aprils in southern Illinois, and at least one migratory bird species, the prothonotary warbler, is taking advantage of the heat. A new study analyzing 20 years of data found that the warblers start their egg-laying in southern Illinois significantly earlier in warmer springs. This increases the chances that the birds can raise two broods of offspring during the nesting season, researchers found.

 Soil temperatures continued to rise across Illinois in February and March, according to Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring (WARM) Program Manager at the Illinois State Water Survey.

Despite the cold weather this February, winter soil temperatures averaged 1 to 2 degrees higher than the long-term averages in Illinois, indicating a greater chance of insects surviving the winter.