Hickory Creek, a vital sub-watershed of the Lower Des Plaines Watershed, has seen significant environmental degradation. In response to anthropogenic impacts, a team of southwest suburban municipalities and environmentally focused non-profit organizations created the Hickory Creek Watershed Planning Group to improve water quality there. The group completed the Hickory Creek Watershed Plan in 2011.
The planning group currently includes representatives from Joliet, New Lenox, Frankfort, Homer Glen, Mokena, Tinley Park, Orland Park, the Forest Preserve District of Will County, Will County Stormwater Management Planning Committee, Illinois American Water, and Huff & Huff, an environmental consulting firm.
The group is working to reduce non-point source pollution, improve habitats and water quality, and engage a wide audience. Specifically, HCWPG is conducting in-stream water quality monitoring and is documenting sources of non-point source pollutants. The group will prepare action plans, implement BMPs, participate in community outreach, and evaluate the ability of local projects to address watershed nutrient loss reduction goals for both point and non-point sources. In addition, HCWPG is in the early stages of developing a third-party TMDL for the watershed.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is currently working toward removing the Pilcher Park Dam in Joliet, which will have a profound impact on levels of dissolved oxygen and algal growth in the lower reaches of Hickory Creek. The Hickory Creek Watershed Planning Group is concentrating on addressing impairments from chloride, Escherichia coli, and sediment by implementing anti-icing and de-icing practices, green infrastructure, and streambank stabilization. The focus on these pollutants will continue until the dam removal is complete, at which point, stream characteristics will change dramatically.
All six of the major wastewater treatment facilities in the Hickory Creek Watershed have the phosphorus limit in their respective NPDES permits. HCWPG will prepare a TMDL, which will be completed when the dam is removed and the interim 1 mg/L phosphorus limit is in place on all discharges in the waterway. Figures 5.7 and 5.8 depict the number of Hickory River major facilities with phosphorus limits in their permits and those that have submitted feasibility and optimization studies, respectively.
