The Fox River Study Group, FRSG, is a diverse coalition of stakeholders who have been working since 2003 to improve the health of the Fox River for the benefit of the nearly 1 million people in the Fox River Valley and for 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.
Since completing a 2022 update of their 2015 Fox River Implementation Plan, FRIP, the group has been working on plan implementation. The group worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a feasibility study that looked at the benefits of removing dams on the river. FRSG has collected water quality data in the watershed for 23 years. The group also continues to contract work with the U.S. Geological Survey, Illinois State Water Survey, and the Illinois Natural History Survey to collect and analyze data on water quality and aquatic life in the Fox River watershed. The FRSG conducted a number of public outreach events during 2023 and 2024 in addition to virtual monthly board meetings that are open to all.
Implementation of the 2022 Fox River Implementation Plan
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 pollutants besides nutrients and to remove the river from the Illinois EPA list of impaired waters.
The FRSG worked with the Illinois EPA throughout 2023 and 2024 on updating FRSG Special Condition language for the permits of wastewater facilities in the watershed that reflects the work completed and work underway consistent with the 2022 FRIP Update.
Activities related to other action items conducted throughout 2023 and 2024 are described below. The 2022 FRIP, an executive summary, and all appendices can be found at tinyurl.com/2022FRIPFolder.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fox River Connectivity and Habitat Study
FRSG continues to work with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USACE, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, IDNR, to complete the Fox River Habitat and Connectivity Study that was restarted in June 2022. 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 has a Joint Funding Agreement with the IDNR to cover the local cost share needed to complete the study. In September 2023, the corps released the draft Project Implementation Report and Environmental Assessment (PIR/EA) for the Fox River Connectivity & Habitat Study in Kane and McHenry Counties, Illinois for a 60-day public comment period that recommended removal of nine of the 10 dams under study. The Algonquin dam was not recommended for removal. Three public meetings were held during the public comment period. At each of these meetings, engineer Art Malm, who represents Friends of the Fox River on the group’s board, provided the Fox River study group's findings on the impacts of dams on water quality in the Fox River. The study group’s key message was that dam removals are necessary and cost effective for improving water quality in the reach of the river studied by the group. Modeling predicts dam removal is necessary to resolve river dissolved oxygen impairments. Without removing the dams, further phosphorus reductions by upgraded wastewater treatment plants improvements would have little effect on total algae populations and would not eliminate the dissolved oxygen impairments within the dam impoundments, despite the high costs involved. During the public comment period, the FRSG provided the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with all the analyses in support of the 2022 FRIP recommendation for improving water quality by removing dams along the mainstem river cost-effectively. The corps anticipates finalizing its report in 2025.
Forest Preserve District of Kane County’s Removal of Carpenter Dam
In the fall of 2024, the Forest Preserve District of Kane County, in collaboration with IDNR, completed removal of one of the dams identified for removal in the corp’s draft report. The Carpenter Dam was located within the District’s Fox River Shores Preserve on the Fox River in Carpentersville. Concurrently, the FRSG prepared a scope of work for post-removal water quality monitoring in the same reaches where a pre- removal water quality study was conducted in 2020. That work is to be performed in 2025.
Water Data Collection and Analysis
On a monthly basis since 2002, FRSG member groups collect and analyze samples using an all-volunteer and in-kind effort. Sampling sites are at 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 made publicly available at ilrdss.sws.uiuc.edu/fox. ISWS staff updated the FoxDB in December 2023. The FRSG submitted the data to the Illinois EPA for inclusion in their next update of the Illinois Integrated Water Quality Report in 2024.
ISWS staff also completed an analysis of trends in chloride, conductivity, turbidity, water temperature, pH, and chlorophyll levels in the watershed in 2023. This comprehensive trend analysis (https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/ items/129469) for 5-, 10- and 25-year periods suggests predominantly stable or improving trends in water quality parameters across the Fox River watershed, from the Stratton Dam to the river’s mouth at the Illinois River.
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning worked with the group and other watershed stakeholders to complete a watershed-based plan for the Indian Creek watershed in Kane and DuPage counties in August 2023. FRSG funded the Hydrological Simulation Program Fortran, HSPF, model for the Indian Creek watershed that was updated as part of this effort. The watershed group continues to work with other stakeholders to secure funding for a microbial source tracking pilot project recommended in the plan.
Communications and Outreach
In 2023 and 2024, FRSG conducted a number of outreach activities, both in-person and virtual. The FRSG helped plan and publicize the bistate Fox River Summit, held annually in March. Attendance is typically 150 people with both in-person and virtual attendance options. In the fall of 2023, the group returned to hosting in-person annual meetings with the celebration of its 20th anniversary, followed by another in-person annual meeting in 2024.
20th Anniversary Celebration of the Fox River Study Group
Attendance at the annual meetings is typically around 80 people. In addition, the group has hosted a number of Lunch & Learn webinars related to the recommendations of the 2022 FRIP. These included sessions on streambank erosion, trends in water quality in the Fox River, the Great Lakes to Gulf Virtual Observatory, and the development of a nutrient trading pilot program in the Fox River watershed. The Lunch & Learn sessions typically attract 20 to 30 attendees. For more information, see foxriverstudygroup.org and the FRSG videos folder.
