Station list     Available data
ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN


05531500       SALT CREEK AT WESTERN SPRINGS, IL

 

LOCATION.-- Lat 41°49'33", long 87°54'02" (NAD of 1927), in NE1/4SE1/4 sec.31, T.39 N., R.12 E., Cook County, Hydrologic Unit 07120004, on left pier at upstream side of bridge on Wolf Road, in Cook County Forest Preserve, 0.5 mi north of Western Springs, and at mile 8.8.

 

DRAINAGE AREA.-- 115 mi2.

 

PERIOD OF RECORD.--

SURFACE-WATER DISCHARGE AND STAGE

 

DISCHARGE: October 1945 to current year.

 

STAGE: Water years 1994 to current year.

SURFACE-WATER QUALITY

 

CHEMICAL: Water years 1978-91 and 1999 to current year.

 

MISCELLANEOUS: Contaminants in streambed sediments, August 1998; contaminants in fish tissue, August 1998.

BIOLOGICAL

 

BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES: Water year 1999, and 2002.

 

FISH: Water years 1999-2000, and 2002-03.

 

HABITAT: Water years 1999, and 2002-03.

 

REVISED RECORDS.-- WSP 1915: Drainage area. WRD IL-87-2: Drainage area. WRD IL-97-2: July 21 - Sept. 26, 1996.

 

GAGE.-- Water-stage recorder, phone telemeter, crest-stage gage, and water-quality monitor. Datum of gage is 624.93 ft above NGVD of 1929. Prior to July 26, 1946, nonrecording gage at same site and datum.

 

REMARKS.-- Occasional regulation by sewage treatment plants upstream from station. Since May 28, 1996, some flow temporarily diverted for flood control to Elmhurst Quarry Flood Control Reservoir 12.3 miles upstream from gage.

 

EXTREMES FOR PERIOD OF RECORD.--

SURFACE-WATER DISCHARGE AND STAGE: Maximum discharge, 3,540 ft3/s, Aug. 17, 1987, gage height, 10.54 ft; minimum, no flow, May 27, 1998, due to bridge construction.

 

REMARKS FOR CURRENT YEAR.-- Fish community samples were collected as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment program (NAWQA) in the upper Illinois River Basin. Collections were made with two passes with a barge electroshocker and supplementary seine hauls and kicks. Fishes were identified by C. A. Taylor, Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign. Reach A begins 187 ft. upstream of a Cook County Forest Preserve trail bridge, and continues upstream for 984 ft.



FISH
Order
Family Number
Scientific name Common name
individuals

  Reach A
7/29/2003
 

Atheriniformes
Cyprinodontidae
Fundulus notatus blackstripe topminnow 3
Cypriniformes
Catostomidae
Catostomus commersoni white sucker 18
Cyprinidae
Cyprinella spiloptera spotfin shiner 33
Cyprinus carpio common carp 1
Notropis stramineus sand shiner 14
Pimephales notatus bluntnose minnow 146
Pimephales promelas fathead minnow 1
Semotilus atromaculatus creek chub 9
Perciformes
Centrarchidae
Lepomis cyanellus green sunfish 17
Lepomis humilis orangespotted sunfish 11
Lepomis macrochirus bluegill 53
Lepomis sp. common sunfishes 4
Micropterus salmoides largemouth bass 3
Siluriformes
Ictaluridae
Ameiurus natalis yellow bullhead 16


Table of Contents

Introduction

Station Descriptions

Surface-Water Data

Ground-Water Data

Meteorological Data

Biological Data