The North Branch Chicago River Watershed Workgroup (NBWW) was formed in 2018 to identify and assess water quality issues along the three forks of the North Branch of the Chicago River. The watershed encompasses over 95 square miles, with northern and southern boundaries roughly extending from Illinois Route 132 in Waukegan in Lake County south to Dempster Street in Morton Grove in Cook County. The workgroup membership consists of 37 separate organizations, including 27 agencies, of which two are POTWs.
In 2018, NBWW created a work plan and a Quality Assurance Project Plan and began a monitoring pro-gram. The monitoring program included:
- Identifying 25 sites in the watershed for consistent sampling.
- Collecting and analyzing water column chemistry samples from all 25 sites.
- Deploying datasondes at seven sites for collecting dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and specific conductance.
- Collecting and analyzing fish, macroinvertebrates, habitat, and sediment samples at 11 of the 25 sites. The remaining 14 sites are scheduled to be sampled in 2019.
The monitoring program includes a bioassessment of the watershed. The fieldwork will be conducted in 2018 and 2019 with a report to follow.
