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.--Habitat measurements, including physical and geomorphic, were collected as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment program (NAWQA) in the upper Illinois River Basin. The measurements were collected according to Fitzpatrick and others (1998). Reach A, lat 41°49'41.60", long 87°54'28.40", is located 187 ft upstream of the walking bridge (0.63 mi upstream from gage) in the Bemis Woods west of Wolf Road and north of Ogden Avenue; it continues upstream for 984 ft.




Tabular-Text Files of Habitat Data for Water Year 1999

The following links list up to five tab-delimited text files containing habitat data collected at several sites. An explanation of column headers in these files can be accessed at this link.

Reach -- General description of the sampled reach.

Geomorphic Channel Unit (GCU) -- Fluvial geomorphic descriptors of channel shape and stream velocity (for example pool, riffle, or run).

Transect -- Channel and bank measurements made along transects (cross sections) within each reach.

Channel features -- Measurements of bars, shelves, and islands at each transect (cross section).

Transect Points -- Channel and substrate measurements and observations at points along a transect (cross section).

Table of Contents

Introduction

Station Descriptions

Surface-Water Data

Ground-Water Data

Meteorological Data

Biological Data