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SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
      The Des Plaines River Wetlands
      Demonstration Project is
      designed to produce the criteria
necessary for rebuilding our river
systems through the use of wetlands and
for developing management programs
for the continued operation of the new
structures. The research program is
assessing wetland functions through
large-scale experimentation, controlled
manipulation of flow rates and water
depths, testing of soil conditions, and
the employment of a wide variety of
native plant communities.
   Four wetlands have been constructed
near Wadsworth, Illinois, for purposes
of river water quality improvement. The
river drains an agricultural and urban
watershed, and carries a non-point
source contaminant load of sediment,
nutrients and agricultural chemicals.
The site is located 35 miles north of
Chicago. It incorporates 2.8 miles of the
upper Des Plaines River and 450 acres
of riparian land. The river flows south,
draining 200 square miles in southern
Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois.
Eighty percent of the watershed is
agricultural and 20 percent urban.
The river is polluted with non-point
source contaminants from a variety of
land use activities, and point source
contaminants from small domestic
treatment plants. In support of previous
agricultural uses, low-lying portions of
the site were drained by means of tiles.
Past uses of the site included pasture
and a Christmas tree farm which
resulted in the demise of most of the
original wetlands and associated
fauna and flora.
  Water is pumped from the river to
the wetlands, from a point just south of
Wadsworth Road. This energy intensive
alternative was necessary because of
site constraints, and because of the
desire to explore a wide range of
hydraulic conditions. Gravity diversion
would be a preferred alternative in
most applications of this technology.
Water leaving the wetlands returns to
the river via grassy swales
Wetlands EW3 and EW4 are
encircled by access roads, and
bordered by US Highway 41
(bottom) and Wadsworth
Road (left). Flow enters EW3
from the left, and enters EW4
from the bottom. Both
discharge to a swale (top
right), which is connected to
the Des Plaines River. On this
aerial infrared photo, water is
black and cattails are dark red.

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Hydrology
      The Des Plaines River enters the
      site from the north, passing under
      the Wadsworth Road bridge. It
is relatively wide and shallow under
normal flow conditions—100 feet wide_
and about 2 feet deep. This reach
exhibits channel stability, primarily
because of the low energy state of the
river. Stream velocities average less
than 1 foot per second. The gradient is
1.2 feet per mile.
  About 15% of the variable stream
flow is pumped to the wetlands, and
allowed to return from the wetlands to
the river through control structures
followed by vegetated channels. Native
wetland plants have been established,  .
ranging from cattail, bulrushes, water
lilies, and arrowhead to duckweed and
algae. Pumping began in the  1989, and
has continued during the ensuing
spring, summer and fall periods. The
experimental design provides for differ-
ent hydraulic loading rates, ranging
from 2 to 24 inches per week. Intensive
wetland research began in late summer
1989, and continues to present.
  The hydrology of the wetland
complex has been studied extensively.
Groundwater investigations showed a
relatively complex local flow pattern,
with some groundwater interactions
with the river.  Wetland EW5 leaks to
groundwater, as does wetland EW5 to
a minor extent. For WY 1990 (October
1989-September 1990), precipitation
and evapotranspiration were equal.
  Pumping occurred for all weeks in
1990, but was discontinued in winter in
subsequent years. The pump is run on
weekdays, for  a prescheduled period.
                                        The river is a "good old
                                        muddy midwestern stream."
                                        Shown here at average flow,
                                        it regularly floods a large
                                        amount of bottom land. In
                                        the summer of 1988, a severe
                                        drought caused it to dry to a
                                        disconnected string of pools.
River enters the site from the north, passing under the Wadsworth Road bridge.
It is relatively wide and shallow under normal flow conditions —100 feet wide
and about 2 feet deep. This reach exhibits channel stability, primarily because
of the low energy state of the river. Stream velocities average less than 1 foot
per second. The gradient is 1.2 feet per mile.

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In WY1990, it was run 10.5% of the
time. Outflow from the wetlands is
controlled by weirs. Thus the hydrologic
regime is cyclic, with increasing water
levels and flows during the few daily
hours of pumping, followed by a
lowering of water levels and a slowing
of flows during the off hours.
Annual Average Water
WY1990 (cm/day)

Inflows
Surface Inflow
Precipitation
Outflows
Discharge
Evapotranspiration
Seepage
Budget Components,

EW3 EW4

5.36 1.46
0.26 0.26

5.36 1.46
0.26 0.26
0.00 0.00


EW5

5.01
0.26

4.80
0.26
0.21


EW6

2.78
0.26

0.35
0.26
2.43
                                                                             Pumping creates a fountain
                                                                             effect at the inlet to each
                                                                             wetland.

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SYSTEM PERFORMANCE     Distribution of Detention Times, Wetland EW3
 •••tie wetland internal flow
  •  patterns are not ideal in any
  •  sense of the word. The nominal
detention times in the wetlands range
from one to three weeks under moder-
ate to high flow conditions. Some of
the pumped water moves quickly
toward the outlet, and reaches it in
about one days time. Other portions of
the pumped water are trapped in the
litter and floe near the wetland bottom.
Still other portions are slowed by plant
clumps, or blown off course by the
wind. The net effect is that some water
takes three times as long as the average
to find its way out of the wetland.
  Tracer studies have been run at
Des Plaines, using lithium chloride as
the tracer material. A sudden dump
of dissolved lithium is made into the
wetland inflow. The outflow is then
analyzed for the lithium, which appears
at varying concentrations and at
various times after the dump. These
tests have established that the degree
                                         0.20
                                         0.15
                                       o>
                                       3. 0.10
                                         0.05
    0.00
                                                    Mean Detention=6.5 Days
                                                                      June 1991
                  5        10        15
                   Detention Time, days
of mixing within the wetlands is
higher than expected. But surprisingly,
there is not a great deal of difference
between wetlands, even though they
differ in shape.
  The primary water quality problem
of the river is associated with turbidity.
With a mean concentration of 59 parts
per million, over 5,000 tons of suspended
solids enter the site per year via the
Des Plaines River and Mill  Creek.
Seventy-five percent of these solid£ are
inorganic and 95 percent are less than
63 microns in size. Sediment removal
efficiencies ranged from 86-100% for
the four cells during summer, and from
38-95% during winter.
20
Suspended Solids In and

FA 89
WI89
SP90
SU90
FA90
SP91
SU91
FA91
AVG
% Removal
Inlet
8.0
7.1
24.2
47.7
50.1
63.9
123
66.0
48.8

Out of the Des Plaines Wetlands (mg/I)
EW3
2.0
5.0
5.5
5.7
10.8
5.8
6.0
10.8
6.5
87%
EW4
2.4
3.6
4.5
14.9
7.4
7.4
6.8
6.7
6.7
86%
EW5
2.6
4.2
2.9
4.3
5.4
2.4
3.2
25.8
4.9
90%
EW6
3.0
3.0
3.3
13.9
4.4
6.2
7.7
NF
6.1
87%

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                                          40
                                            Suspended Solids Wetland EW4
A       fish story developed in 1990.
       The solids in the wetland
       effluents were steadily increas-
ing with each passing week. The source
of the problem was found: a large
number of carp were growing up in
the wetlands. These fish foraged in the
wetland sediments, causing resuspen-
sion of solids. They entered as fry in the
pumped water, and grew to 8-10 inches
      30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
                         Weeks From October
over the first two years of the project.
The solution was to draw down the
wetland water levels, in winter 1990-91,
and freeze out the carp. Solids removal
returned to the previous high levels
of efficiency.
Carp rooted up sediments and
impaired sediment removal
efficiency. They were frozen
out and removed.

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WATER QUALITY RESPONSES
       Other observed river water
       quality problems included
       violations of the state water
quality standards for iron, copper, and
fecal coliforms. These pollutants are
found only occasionally, and not in
dangerously high concentrations.
Although not detected in amounts
exceeding the federal Food and Drug
Administration's criteria, dieldrin, DDT
and PCBs have been found in fish flesh
samples. DDT, DDE and PCBs were
also found in low concentrations in the
river borne sediments. The old pesti-
cides are pervasive everywhere else in
the environment, and so will be in these
wetlands. The river bears a significant
nutrient load, as evidenced by nitrate
and phosphorus. These fertilizers peak
seasonally, corresponding to runoff
tuning and land use practices within the
watershed. Agricultural practices within
the basin produce pollution with
atrazine, at concentrations which peak
in excess of the federal drinking water
standard. According to the results of
benthic surveys, the stream is classified
as semi-polluted.
  Phosphorus removal efficiencies
average 65-80%. However, efficiency is
lower in winter and higher in summer.
That is partly because the riverine
concentrations of phosphorus are very
low in winter, and partly because
biological processes slow in the cold
temperatures. Winter runoff in the
watershed is overland, over frozen
soils or ice and snow. The result is low
phosphorus in the river in winter.
  Most phosphorus enters the wetlands
associated with mineral suspended
solids. These solids settle quickly, and
may not freely exchange their phospho-
rus with the wetland waters. In addition,
there is a large biotic cycle of growth,
death and decomposition at work,
which leaves a residual of organic
sedimentary material. The deposition
from this cycle exceeds the deposition
of incoming river solids by a wide
Total Phosphorus Reduction, (mg/l)

FA 89
WI89
SP90
SU90
FA 90
SP91
SU91
AVG
AVG%
Inlet
0.052
0.073
0.057
0.117
0.131
0.089
0.119
0.091

EW3
0.018
0.053
0.044
0.038
0.024
0.003
0.010
0.027
65%
EW4
0.013
0.030
0.015
0.055
0.007
0.002
0.010
0.019
78%
EW5
0.014
0.058
0.017
0.035
0.017
0.001
0.010
0.022
73%
EW6
0.018
0.024
0.023
0.062
0.011
0.002
0.009
0.021
75%

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                                             Nitrogen Forms Entering Wetland EW3
margin. Both processes immobilize
phosphorus in these wetlands. During
the early years, phosphorus is also tied
up in the new biomass associated with
these developing ecosystems.
  There are a variety of nitrogen forms
in the river water. About 0.6 mg/1 of
organic nitrogen enter the wetlands,
and the same amount leaves. Very low
ammonium nitrogen concentrations are
found in both river and wetland waters:
about 0.05 mg/1. Nitrate varies seasonally
in the river, in response to urban and
agricultural practices. High spring and
fall concentrations are echoed by similar
variations in the nitrate content of the
wetland effluent waters. However, in the
warm seasons, a considerable amount
of the incoming nitrate is removed,
presumably due to denitrification. This
microbially mediated process appears to
be more efficient in the wetlands with
lower hydraulic loading rate, which is
equivalent to increased detention time
since depths are comparable. Thus the
overall effect of the wetlands is to
control the nitrate in the water when
sufficient contact time is available.
                                       f
                                       o
                                       8
                                       I
                                      Ammonium
                                      Organic
                                      Nitrate
       3  10 17  24 31 38 45 51 59 197204212218225
                   Days From October 1,1990

      Atrazine Reduction in EW4,1991
 a   3
 'F3
 £   2
      50   60   70   80  90  100 fflO  120  130 140
                      Days from April 1

  Atrazine, a triazine herbicide, exists
in many streams in the upper midwest-
ern part of the United States, including
the Des Plaines River, due to use
patterns in the watershed. The atrazine-
wetland interaction is very complex,
including removal from the area by
Nitrate Nitrogen Reduction, (mg/1)

FA 89
WI89
1990
1991
AVG
AVG%
Inlet
2.46
2.15
1.87
1.22
1.80

EW3
1.46
0.67
0.54
0.23
0.61
66%
EW4
0.04
0.17
0.24
0.10
0.15
92%
EW5
1.27
1.51
0.53
0.18
0.70
61%
EW6
0.08
0.25 i
0.32
0.18
0.22
88%

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                                       VEGETATION
                                       RESPONSES
 convection in the water, loss of chemical
 identity by hydrolysis to hydroxytriazine
 and dealkylation, and sorption on
 wetland sediments and litter. Atrazine
 transport, sorption and identity loss
 were studied at the site, and in accom-
 panying laboratory work. Sorption was
 effective for soils and sediments, but the
 more organic materials, such as litter,
 showed a stronger affinity for atrazine
 than the mineral base soils of the
 wetland cells at Des Plaines.
   Atrazine was found to degrade on
 those sediments according to a first
 order rate law. Therefore, outflows
 from the Des Plaines wetland cells
 contained reduced amounts of atrazine
 compared to the river water inputs.
 During 1991, atrazine peaked in the
 river due to two rain events. Only about
 25% of the incoming atrazine was
 removed in wetland cell EW3, but 95%
was removed in wetland cell EW4. The
 explanation is that the detention time
in EW4 is longer  than in EW3.
Number of Species of
Wetland Plants

1988
1989
1990
1991
EW3
2
9
26
25
EW4
21
19
28
33
EW5
22
14
20
22
EW6
29
17
26
27
       Efforts at vegetation
       establishment were
       initially thwarted by the
 extreme drought conditions of
 1988. The planting of white
 water lily (Nymphea odorata)
 showed small success, and
 American water lotus (Nelumbo
 lutea)  did not survive.
   The development of the
 macrophyte plant communities
 has been monitored from
 project startup. Sixteen 2m x 2m
 permanent quadrats were
 established in each wetland cell.
 Data were acquired on species composi-
 tion and biomass for all plants in each
 quadrat. Plants were individually
 measured, and a correlation between
 dry weight and leaf size was developed.
 Thus biomass could be determined
 non-destructively. There was an overall
 increase in species as volunteer wetland
 vegetation replaced the terrestrial
 vegetation of pre-pumping . Fourteen
 species were observed in 1990 that were
 not present in 1989, and ten species
 from 1989 did not reappear; these later
 being mostly upland species.
  The first year of inundation caused
 the death of many upland species, such
 as cotton wood (Populus deltoides). The
 growing seasons of 1989,1990 and 1991
 all displayed an increase in the amount
 of cattail (Typha spp.). Productivity
 increased from 200-400 dry grams per
 square meter in 1989 to 600-800 in 1990.
The growing season of 1990 produced
extensive blooms of macrophytic algae,
predominantly Cladaphora.
Water clarity is generally
excellent at the wetland
outflow.

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WILDLIFE  USE
      Bird populations have grown
      much larger than in the pre-
      wetlands period for the site.
For migratory waterfowl, there has
been a 500% increase in the number
of species, and a 4500% increase in
the number of individuals from 1985
to 1990. Forty-seven species of birds
nested on the site in 1990, a 27%
increase over preproject numbers.
   The fall 1990 bird survey turned up a
number of interesting species, including
the state endangered pied-billed grebe
and black-crowned night heron, and also
the great egret, American bittern, and
the sharp-shinned hawk. The state-en-
dangered yellow-headed blackbird and
least bittern nest successfully at the site.
   Muskrats have moved in, and
constructed both dwelling houses and
feeding platforms. And, beaver are
now resident in the wetlands. They
chewed off quadrat corner posts—most
of the 256 posts initially placed. They
attempted to dam the wetland EW3
outflow nearly every night in 1992.
     Waterfowl Species
  60
  50-

  40-
Migratory Waterfowl Species
Breeding Species
Breeding Wetland Species
               1985                   1990

      Bird Counts at the Des Plaines Wetlands
  800
in
                                                  Migratory Waterfowl
                                   Breeding Pairs

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       Spport for the project has been
       rovided by a large number of
       oth private and governmental
agencies. Contributions have been
both in-kind and financial.
Abbott Laboratories
AMOCO Foundation
Annexter Brothers
Atlantic Richfield Foundation
Badger Meter Co.
Borg-Warner Foundation
Campanella & Sons, Inc.
Caterpillar Foundation
Chauncey and Marion Deering-
   McCormick Foundation
Commonwealth Edison Company
Exxon Company USA
Garden Guild (Winnetka)
Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly
Hartz Construction Co., Inc.
Illinois Department of Energy
and Natural Resources
International Minerals and
Chemical Corporation
J.I. Case
Kelso-Burnett Co.
Lake County Forest Preserve District
Land and Lakes Company
Material Service Corporation
Midcon Corporation
Morton Arboretum
National Terminals Corporation
Olson Oil Company
Open Lands Project
Prince Charitable Trust
R. R. Donnelly & Sons
Sidney G. Haskins
Sudix Foundation
The Brunswick Foundation
The Indevco Group
The Joyce Foundation
The Munson Foundation
U. S. E. P. A.
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
USX Foundation, Inc.
1SPE Outstanding Engineering Achievement of 1991:
The Des Plaines River Wetlands Demonstration Project
Ecological Society of America: Special Recognition Award, 1993
                                                                      SOCIETY OF
                                                                                •o
                                                                      ENGINEERS

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  RESEARCH  GROUPS
        Project research has been
        conducted by several
        organizations:
   College of Lake County
   Wetlands Research, Inc.
   Iowa State University
   M. C. Herp Surveys
   North Dakota State University
   Northeastern Illinois Planning
      Commission
   Northern Illinois University
   Northwestern University
   The Illinois State Water Survey
   The Illinois Institute of Technology
   The Illinois State Geological Survey
   The Morton  Arboretum
   The Ohio State University
   The University of Michigan
   Western Illinois University
     For the project bibliography,
**  project reports or other information,
   contact the not-for-profit coordinating
   organization:
   Wetlands Research, Inc.
   53 West Jackson Boulevard
   Chicago, Illinois 60604
   Phone 312-922-0777
   Fax 312-922-1823
Blue horizon marker particles
just after placement. As
sediments accumulate, these
marker particles become buried.
The amount of overlying
sediment may then be
determined at later times.

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