The Fox River Study Group is a diverse coalition of stakeholders who have been working together since 2001 to preserve and enhance water quality in the Fox River Watershed. In 2015, the FRSG completed the Fox River Implementation Plan (FRIP), which is the watershed community’s road map to eliminate water quality impairments due to low dissolved oxygen levels, high total phosphorus levels, and nuisance algae in the Fox River below the Stratton Dam in the city of McHenry.
FRIP is the product of data collection and scientific assessment undertaken by FRSG with the support of Illinois EPA, Illinois State Water Survey, county and municipal governments, water reclamation districts, watershed and environmental groups, and consulting firms. Through FRIP, computer models assess the impacts of reducing total phosphorus loading as well as the impacts of removing Fox River dams on total phosphorus levels, dissolved oxygen, and algae in the river.
Several major wastewater treatment plants that discharge to the Fox River are in the process of adding controls on their total phosphorus discharges to meet an annual average limit of 1.0 mg/L. As the upgrades are completed over the next few years, annual total phosphorus loads from these plants will be reduced from 600,000 to 270,000 pounds per year. Compared to the 2010–2013 load, calculated using actual summer average flows and total phosphorus concentrations at the plants, this will result in approximately a 75 percent reduction in total phosphorus loading during summer months. Key findings from FRIP can be found in Appendix C. Figures 5.3 and 5.4 depict the number of Fox River major facilities with phosphorus limits in their permits and those that have submitted feasibility and optimization studies, respectively.
In the fall 2016, algae levels (in the water column and stream-bottom coverage) in the Fox River were measured at six sites during low-flow conditions. These measures were in addition to continuous dissolved oxygen measurements, which are helping efforts to investigate sites where modeling predicts low dissolved oxygen. The group has also contracted with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to collect continuous dissolved oxygen data on the Fox River near Algonquin during the summer season of water years 2016–2018. Current models predict low dissolved oxygen levels in this stretch of the river.
The Illinois State Water Survey is preparing a report on temporal and spatial trends connected to nutrient-related water quality parameters in the Fox River from 1998 through 2016. This report is an update of the survey prepared for FRSG in 2004.
FRSG also continues to conduct a monthly, all-volunteer monitoring effort of the main stem and tributaries of the Fox River. This project is now in its 15th year of data collection.
