Publications

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago regulate flows through control structures along the Lake Michigan lakefront and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) for Lake Michigan diversion accounting, flood control, sanitary, and navigation purposes. This report documents the measurement and computation of flow through the...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated a streamgage and published daily flows for the Des Plaines River at Riverside since Oct. 1, 1943. A HEC-RAS model has been developed to estimate the effect of the removal of Hofmann Dam near the gage on low-flow elevations in the reach approximately 3 miles upstream from the dam. The Village of Riverside, the Illinois Department of Natural...

The Cuyahoga River within Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) is at times impaired for recreational use due to elevated concentrations of Escherichia coli (E. coli), a fecal-indicator bacterium. During the recreational seasons of mid-May through September during 2009–11, samples were collected 4 days per week and analyzed for E. coli concentrations at two sites within CVNP. Other water...

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has designated portions of the Illinois River in Peoria, Woodford, and Tazewell Counties, Illinois, as impaired owing to the presence of fecal coliform bacteria. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, examined the water quality in the Illinois River and major tributaries within a 47-mile...

Manning's roughness coefficients for 43 natural and constructed streams in Illinois are reported and displayed on a U.S. Geological Survey Web site. At a majority of the sites, discharge and stage were measured, and corresponding Manning's coefficients—the n-values—were determined at more than one river discharge. The n-values discussed in this report are computed from data representing...

Nutrient and algae data were collected in the 1990s and 2000s by the U.S. Geological Survey for the National Water- Quality Assessment program in the Ozark Highlands, southern Missouri. These data were collected at sites of differing drainage area, land use, nutrient concentrations, and physiography. All samples were collected at sites with a riffle/pool structure and cobble/gravel bed...

Source contributions to monitoring and supply wells, contributing recharge areas, groundwater travel times, and current (2012) understanding of alluvial water quality were used to develop a groundwater monitoring plan for the Missouri River alluvial aquifer in the vicinity of the City of Independence, Missouri well field. The plan was designed to evaluate long-term alluvial water quality...

The State of Illinois' annual withdrawal from Lake Michigan is limited by a U.S. Supreme Court decree, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is responsible for monitoring flows in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) near Lemont, Illinois as a part of the Lake Michigan Diversion Accounting overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District. Every 5 years, a technical...

The Cedar River alluvial aquifer is the primary source of municipal water in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area. Municipal wells are completed in the alluvial aquifer approximately 40 to 80 feet below land surface. The City of Cedar Rapids and the U.S. Geological Survey have been conducting a cooperative study of the groundwater-flow system and water quality of the aquifer since 1992...

Minor flooding occurred July 23, 2010, in the Little Maquoketa River Basin and major flooding occurred July 23–26, 2010, in the Maquoketa River Basin in northeast Iowa following severe thunderstorm activity over the region during July 22–24. A breach of the Lake Delhi Dam on July 24 aggravated flooding on the Maquoketa River. Rain gages at Manchester and Strawberry Point, Iowa, recorded...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collects streamflow, groundwater level, and water-quality data for the State of Illinois and the Nation. Much of these data are collected every 15 minutes (real-time) as a part of the national network, so that water-resource managers can make decisions in a timely and reliable manner. Coupled with modeling and other water-resource investigations, the...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, designed and operates a series of monitoring stations on streams throughout Missouri known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network. During the 2011 water year (October 1, 2010, through September 30, 2011), data were collected at 75 stations—72 Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network...