Suspended-sediment budget for the Kankakee River Basin, 1993-95

A suspended-sediment budget was constructed for the Kankakee River Basin using suspended-sediment data collected from January 1993 through December 1995 at six existing U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations. The Iroquois River delivered almost twice as much suspended-sediment load to the Kankakee River main stem as did the Kankakee River above its junction with the Iroquois River. For the Iroquois River, the portion of the drainage area in Illinois contributed 86 percent of the total suspended-sediment load measured during the study. In contrast, for the Kankakee River upstream from the junction with the Iroquois, the portion of the drainage area in Illinois contributed only 17 percent of the total suspended-sediment load measured during the study. A net increase in total suspended-sediment load of 659,000 tons was measured in the main stem Kankakee River from the mouth of the Iroquois River to the streamflow-gaging station at Wilmington, Ill. This portion of the Kankakee River drainage had the highest suspended-sediment yield at 861 tons per day per square mile.