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Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Illinois
Installing Best Management Practices Restores Indian Creek
Waterbody Improved
The presence of priority organics (endrin and methoxychlor) in
IIIinois's Indian Creek prompted the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency (Illinois EPA) to include a 10.5-mile-long segment of the creek on the 2000 Illinois Water
Quality Report for not fully supporting the aquatic life designated use. Stakeholders implemented best
management practices (BMPs) including rain gardens and streambank restoration to reduce priority
organics by controlling erosion and urban runoff. Pollutant loading into Indian Creek dropped and water
quality improved. Post-project monitoring data demonstrated that Indian Creek now fully supports its
designated use for aquatic life, prompting Illinois EPA to remove the creek segment from the state's list
of impaired waters in 2010.
Problem
The Indian Creek watershed drains a 38-square-
miie area in southern Lake County in northeastern
Illinois (Figure 1). Indian Creek discharges into the
Des Plaines River near Lincolnshire, Illinois. The
Indian Creek watershed encompasses numerous
municipalities, including Buffalo Grove, Hawthorn
Woods, Indian Creek, Lake Zurich, Libertyville,
Lincolnshire, Long Grove, Kildeer, Mundelein, and
Vernon Hills, and portions of Fremont, Ela, Vernon
and Libertyville townships. Four major stream
branches extend over 40 miles within the water-
shed—the Indian Creek main stem, Kildeer Creek,
Diamond Lake Drain and Seavey (Hawthorn) Ditch.
The watershed contains approximately 650 acres
of lakes, including 12 situated along major stream
branches. Its key land uses are residential areas
(38 percent) and agricultural areas (16 percent).
On the basis of monitoring data collected in the
1990s, Illinois EPA reported in the 2000 Illinois
Water Quality Report that a 10.5-mile-long seg-
ment of Indian Creek (segment GU-02) failed to
fully support its aquatic life designated use, in
part because of the priority organics endrin and
methoxychlor. Municipal point sources, construc-
tion, land development, urban runoff/storm sewers,
and contaminated sediments were identified as
potential sources contributing to the impairment.
Priority organics (endrin and methoxychlor) would
remain a cause of impairment for segment GU-02
through the 2008 Illinois Integrated Water Quality
Report and Section 303(d) List.
Project Location
<- Des Plaines River
Basin ~a—I I
Indian Creek Watershed
Figure 1. Indian Creek flows through southern Lake
County in northeastern Illinois.
Project Highlights
The Indian Creek Watershed Committee (ICWC) was
formed in 1999 to provide stakeholders in the water-
shed with an opportunity and forum to express their
concerns, and to provide direction for watershed
restoration through the watershed planning pro-
cess. The Lake County Stormwater Management
Commission (LCSMC) and the watershed project
team, including committee members, Applied
Ecological Services, Inc. (AES) representatives,
and other interested parties, held regular monthly
meetings to form the vision, goals and objectives
for restoring the watershed.

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Figure 2. Stabilizing the streambanks on Seavey
Ditch, a tributary to Indian Creek, helped to reduce
erosion and improve water quality.
Figure 3. Watershed partners installed a
2,046-square-foot rain garden in West Shore Park
to treat stormwater runoff from area roadways.
Using Clean Water Act (CWA) section 319 funding
support, the watershed partners, including the
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, AES
Inc., and others, initiated an upgrade of the Indian
Creek watershed plan in 2004 to make the plan
consistent with U.S. EPA's guidance for watershed-
based plans. The upgraded plan was aimed at
improving water quality by controlling nonpoint
source pollution throughout the watershed. The
initial upgrade was completed in June 2006; the
plan was updated again in 2008. The Indian Creek
Watershed-based Plan was adopted in 2009.
From 2001 to 2011, Illinois EPA completed four
nonpoint source pollution control projects funded
under CWA section 319 to implement BMPs in the
Indian Creek watershed. The projects included
10,292 feet of streambank and shoreline protec-
tion (Figure 2), 6,3 acres of wetland restoration,
two grade stabilization structures and one rock
outlet protection structure to control water flow
and prevent soil erosion, three rain gardens
(Figure 3), 0.8 acre of urban filter strip, and an urban
stormwater wetland to control stormwater runoff.
The projects also included a water quality monitor-
ing component to assess water quality improve-
ment as a result of BMP implementation. These
monitoring efforts tracked changes in total sus-
pended solids and total phosphorus loading to
assess how well the BMPs had reduced the impact
of runoff into the Indian Creek and other waterbod-
ies in the watershed The monitoring results also
helped to guide BMP design and implementation.
Results
Illinois EPA estimates that the four CWA section
319-funded projects in the Indian Creek watershed
reduced annual pollutant loadings by approxi-
mately 674 tons of sediment, 145,409 pounds of
total suspended solids, 483 pounds of phosphorus
and 1,131 pounds of nitrogen. Because priority
organics adsorb to sediments and can be carried
to waterbodies in stormwater runoff, the imple-
mented BMPs also reduced the levels of priority
organics moving through the Indian Creek system.
Based on Illinois EPA monitoring data, Indian Creek
was identified as fully supporting its aquatic life
designated use in 2010. Priority organics (endrin
and methoxychlor) were removed as a cause of
impairment in the 2010 Illinois Integrated Water
Quality Report and Section 303(d) List. Therefore,
segment GU-02 was removed from the state's
list of impaired waters in 2010. Monitoring data
continued to show full support of the aquatic iife
designated use in 2012.
Partners and Funding
Contributing a total of $1,493,243 of CWA section
319 funds, Illinois EPA partnered with the Chicago
Metropolitan Agency for Planning, AES, Countryside
Lake Association, LCSMC and local landowners to
implement BMPs in the Indian Creek watershed.
Local partners provided $1,418,087 in matching
funds, bringing the total cost for the projects to
$2,911,330.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-12-001JJ
August 2012
For additional information contact:
Scott Ristau
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Scott.Ristau@illinois.gov
217-782-3362

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