Introduction
The Fox River Study Group, FRSG, is a diverse coalition of stakeholders who have been working for 20 years to improve the health of the Fox River for the benefit of the nearly 1 million people in the Fox River Valley and the over 300,000 people whose drinking water comes from the river. The study group is using research, data, and collaboration to guide the region toward a cleaner, safer, and more beautiful Fox River and to support sustainable policies and development across the Fox River watershed. The group’s study area encompasses 1,405 square miles of the Fox River watershed from the Stratton Dam in McHenry County to the mouth of the river in LaSalle County. The watershed includes an additional 1,253 square miles upstream in the Chain O’Lakes region in Illinois and into Wisconsin to the river’s source near Waukesha.
In 2022, they completed an update of their 2015 Fox River Implementation Plan, FRIP, based on new modeling of river conditions under various management scenarios. The group also successfully advocated for the relaunch of an Army Corps of Engineers’ feasibility study that looks at the benefits of removing a number of dams on the river. FRSG is now in its 21st year of water quality data collection in the watershed. The group also continues to contract work with the United States Geological Survey, Illinois State Water Survey, and the Illinois Natural History Survey to collect and analyze additional data on water quality and aquatic life in the Fox River watershed. The FRSG conducted a number of public outreach events during 2021 and 2022 in addition to virtual monthly board meetings that are open to all.
Army Corps’ Fox River Connectivity and Habitat Study
FRSG continues to work with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to complete the Fox River Habitat and Connectivity Study that had been placed on hold in August 2015. This study is evaluating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of fish passage and riverine function restoration methods at 10 low head, run-of-the-river dams on the Fox River from Algonquin to Montgomery. The FRSG and many of its member organizations reached out over three years to the leadership at the Corps and to members of Congress from the Fox River Valley to advocate for the restart of the study. In November 2021, the FRSG entered into a Joint Funding Agreement with the IDNR to cover the local cost share needed to complete the study. In March 2022, Illinois Senators Durbin and Duckworth reported that $250,000 in funding for completion of the study was included in the Corps’ 2022 budget. A project restart kickoff meeting was held by the Corps in June 2022, with the Corps hosting meetings with their IDNR and FRSG partners approximately every month. The Corps plans to have the study completed by mid-2024 and to release the draft report to be out for public review in 2023.
2022 FRIP Update
In 2021 the FRSG used its updated models of Fox River, an HSPF model and a QUAL2Kw model, to evaluate scenarios that combined actions reducing phosphorus inputs to the river along with the removal of dams from the Fox River mainstem. These results were presented at a public webinar in August 2021 by engineer Rishab Mahajan, who led the model update work performed by the firm Geosyntec. The results showed a reduction of phosphorus concentrations by major wastewater facilities in the study area to 0.5 mg/L annual average geometric mean, which, when combined with the removal of dams from the Fox River main stem, reduced algae levels and improved oxygen levels. Geosyntec staff then worked with the group throughout 2022 to incorporate these findings into an update of the FRIP. The 2022 FRIP calls for:
- Achievement of a 0.5 mg/L total phosphorus limit on effluent from major wastewater treatment plants by 2030
- Support of removal of dams along the Fox mainstem as identified in the Corps study and for the FRSG to take the lead in monitoring the water quality impacts of the removed dams
- Encouragement of state-of-the-art watershed management practices that can mitigate the impact of projected population growth
- Statewide cooperation to leverage support for evaluation of streambank erosion and quantification of its impact on phosphorus loads in the watershed
- Expansion of partnerships to reduce nutrients entering the FRIP study area, especially with the agricultural community in the most southern portion of the study area and upstream entities in the Chain O’Lakes region of Illinois and Wisconsin
- Collaboration with other agencies and organizations on goals to eliminate impairments in the river due to other pollutants besides nutrients and to remove the river from the Illinois EPA list of impaired waters
The 2022 FRIP, an Executive Summary, and all appendices can be found at tinyurl.com/2022FRIPFolder.
Water Data Collection and Analysis
On a monthly basis since 2002, an all-volunteer and in-kind effort by FRSG member groups collects and analyzes samples from seven mainstem locations and seven tributary locations along an 80-mile stretch of the Fox River from McHenry to Yorkville. FRSG also continues to fund the U.S. Geological Survey to collect continuous water quality data on the Fox River at the Stratton Dam (USGS Station #05549501) during the growing season.
The Illinois State Water Survey maintains the FoxDB environmental database, where all available data for the Fox River watershed are compiled and publicly available at ilrdss.sws.uiuc.edu/fox. In 2022, ISWS staff updated the FoxDB with newly collected data and submitted the data to the Illinois EPA for inclusion in their next update of the Illinois Integrated Water Quality Report. ISWS staff are also working on an analysis of trends in chloride, conductivity, turbidity, water temperature, pH, and chlorophyll levels in the watershed, which is due to be released in 2023. This analysis is a follow-up to the first Fox River water quality trend analysis released in 2019.
In anticipation of the planned removal of the Carpenter Dam by the Forest Preserve District of Kane County, the FRSG has coordinated a number of pre-removal studies of pooled and free-flowing reaches near the dam. In 2021, FRSG executed a contract with the Illinois Natural History Survey to conduct a mussel survey before the dam is removed. Mussel field surveys were conducted in the summer 2021 at three sites – one impact site at the Carpenter dam location, one reference site upstream of the dam near Algonquin, and one reference site downstream of the dam near West Dundee. The INHS field sampling results were presented at the FRSG annual meeting in November 2021. The INHS scope of work also includes mussel tagging during the dam’s removal and subsequent tracking and other post-removal studies.
FRSG and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning continue to collaborate with other watershed stakeholders on the development of a watershed-based plan for the Indian Creek watershed in Kane and DuPage counties. The HSPF model for the Indian Creek watershed has been updated as part of this effort.
Communications and Outreach
In 2021 and 2022, FRSG conducted 13 outreach activities. Many were presentations that informed the public about the results of the river model simulations of management scenarios and the incorporation of those findings into the 2022 FRIP Update. Aileron Communications helped the FRSG create a dam removal benefits fact sheet.
For more information, see foxriverstudygroup.org.
