Cleaning Up the Illinois River

Even the nicest house and car require maintenance and upkeep. And postponing maintenance can end up being costly.

Illinois’ rivers and streams are no different.

That’s why cleaning up will be a major element of the statewide “It’s Our River Day” on Sept. 19. The statewide event also will celebrate of what Illinois rivers offer to wildlife, to outdoor recreation and to tourism.

“We want it to be more of an outing that represents all the positive things that rivers can provide,” said Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director Marc Miller, who pushed the first “It’s Our River Day” five years ago.

Tammy Becker, programs manager for Living Lands and Waters in East Moline, said cleanup efforts remove items that could leak pollutants.

“Any appliance we pull out could contain oil, other lubricants or even gasoline,” she said. “I can’t tell you how many mysterious containers and barrels we have found on the river that contain chemicals, fertilizers and hydraulic oil.

“All these things are extremely toxic not only to people, but all the animals and fish that rely on the river to survive.”

Keeping it clean

Rivers generally have benefited since the federal Clean Water Act was enacted in the 1970s.

“Today there are walleye and bass tournaments on the Illinois River,” said Gary Clark, director of DNR’s office of water resources. “Thirty years ago, people didn’t even want to boat on that river.”

The Living Lands and Waters organization conducts annual cleanups in several states, working mostly along the Mississippi River, but also on tributaries like the Illinois River.

Becker said the cleanups are becoming victims of their own success.

“It’s definitely getting better, especially in the areas we work on along the Mississippi River,” she said. “In areas we have worked over the past 10 years, it’s been getting really difficult to find garbage to keep everybody busy.

Even so, vigilance is required.

Scott Hewitt, who operates Lincoln’s New Salem Canoe Rental in Petersburg, said it doesn’t take much trash to ruin a canoe trip. Broken glass is dangerous for boaters in flip-flops, and fly-dumped trash always is an eyesore — a visual speed bump on the natural landscape.

And though Hewitt acknowledged progress in cleaning up the Sangamon and other Illinois Rivers, more is needed, he said.

“It’s needed,” he said of the coordinated effort to maintain the state’s rivers and streams. “But I wish it wasn’t necessary.”

‘Travel dollars’ at stake

Zoom out and the Sangamon River looks like a postcard for the Midwest in late summer.

Zoom in, however, and the picture has some blemishes.

At Irwin Bridge, often a trouble spot in the past, Hewitt recently unearthed a half-buried tarp and looked over the innards of an old washing machine lying in the water near the bank.

Just up the road, a pile of shingles — off-loaded in a relatively neat stack — is a testament to the ongoing problem of people who don’t take the effort and expense to properly dispose of waste.
“There’s no reason litter should mar that picture postcard view,” Miller said.

And it is more than a picture postcard view. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said hunting, fishing and wildlife-based recreation is worth $3.2 billion to the state’s economy.

“The impact is real,” Miller said.

Hewitt said Illinois has to take care of its rivers because if visitors find them unsafe and unattractive, they can take their travel dollars elsewhere.

More than trash pick-up

While the purpose of the event is serious, “It’s Our River Day” won’t be all work and no play.
Hewitt expects people to enjoy canoeing the stretch of the river between Irwin Bridge and New Salem.

In southern Illinois, participants can canoe the Cache River. At Starved Rock near Utica, tours are being offered of the lock and dam on the Illinois River.

In central Illinois, river sweeps and other activities are planned for Bath, Beardstown, Decatur, Peoria and Rushville. In Chicago, a rain-barrel painting contest is on tap.

Miller said he wants participants to look beyond piles of trash to see the potential of the state’s rivers.

People seem to be getting the message, Becker said.

“There are definitely fewer people dumping,” she said. “It’s gotten much better everywhere we go.”

Chris Young can be reached at 788-1528.

Sangamon Paddlers It’s Our River Day

When: 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 19

Where: Meet at the Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, Sangamon River picnic area

What: Volunteers will participate in a Sangamon River clean up on water and land. Paddlers will collect trash between Irwin Bridge and New Salem. Shoreline cleanup will take place at the Irwin Bridge put-in point and the New Salem take-out.

More info: http://www.newsalemcanoe.com/ or call Scott Hewitt, 494-3957.

Cooperating organizations: Sangamon Paddlers, Friends of the Sangamon Valley, Lincoln’s New Salem Canoe Rental, Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, Sangamon Valley Sierra Club, AT&T Pioneers.

On the Web

For a complete listing of events, visit: http://www.cleanwaterillinois.org/.

Anyone wishing to organize an event should contact Olivia Dorothy at 785-0075.

Living Lands and Waters: http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/.

Prairie Rivers Network: http://prairierivers.org/.

Illinois River Watershed facts

*The Illinois River watershed covers 44 percent of the state’s area.

*Ninety percent of the state’s population resides within the watershed.

*The Illinois River drains 28,906 square miles including 3,058 square miles in Indiana and 1,070 in Wisconsin.

*Includes the drainage basins of the Des Plaines, Kankakee, Fox, Vermilion, Mackinaw, Spoon, Sangamon and La Moine rivers.

Source: Illinois State Water Survey

Some pollution tough to combat

Gregg Good of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency says the Illinois River has improved “demonstrably” since 40 years ago, when it was considered an environmental nightmare and a receptacle for trash.

“The Illinois River is a modern-day success story,” Good said.

Small streams are improving too, and aquatic life is on the rebound as water quality gets better.
Over the past four decades, Good said the focus has been on controlling or eliminating point-source pollution, such as pollution that comes out of a pipe.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that 30 to 40 years of ratcheting down point-source pollution has helped a lot,” Good said.

However, non-point-source pollution, like runoff from agricultural fields, lawns and parking lots is more difficult to regulate.

“That is a tougher nut to crack,” he said.

Illinois is “blessed with rich loess soils,” Good said, but heavy rains can wash fertilizers and sediment into rivers, contributing to problems far downstream.

“We’re in a big agricultural state, and we’re pointed out as one of the states that is a major contributor to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico,” Good said of the “dead zone” that extends into the Gulf where the Mississippi River enters.

Tackling non-point-source pollution is the next frontier when it comes to cleaning up Illinois’ rivers and streams, he said.

By CHRIS YOUNG
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER