Station list     Available data
ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN


05586100       ILLINOIS RIVER AT VALLEY CITY, IL

 

LOCATION.-- Lat 39°42'12", long 90°38'43" (NAD of 1927), in SE1/4NW1/4 sec.34, T.15 N., R.14 W., Scott County, Hydrologic Unit 07130011, on upstream side of Norfolk & Southern Corporation Railroad bridge at Flints Creek, 0.4 mi east of Valley City, 1.8 mi downstream from Mauvaise Terre Creek, and at mile 61.3. Auxiliary gage 10.0 miles upstream.

 

DRAINAGE AREA.-- 26,743 mi2, does not include diversion from Lake Michigan through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which has occurred since Jan. 17, 1900.

 

PERIOD OF RECORD.--

SURFACE-WATER DISCHARGE AND STAGE

 

DISCHARGE: October 1938 to current year. Prior to October 1960, at site 0.2 mi upstream at same datum. Prior to October 1989, published as "at Meredosia." Records are considered equivalent.

 

STAGE: Water years 1994 to current year.

 

PARTIAL RECORD: Annual maximum, water years 1921 to 1938.

SURFACE-WATER QUALITY

 

CHEMICAL: Water years 1975-93 and 1996 to current year.

 

DISSOLVED OXYGEN: Water years 2001-2003.
PH: Water years 2001-2003.

 

SEDIMENT: February 1980 to current year

 

SPECIFIC CONDUCTANCE: Water years 1975-81, 2001-2003.

 

TURBIDITY: Water years 2001-2003.

 

WATER TEMPERATURE: Water years 1975-81, 2001-2003.

 

MISCELLANEOUS: Contaminants in streambed sediments, October 1996; contaminants in fish tissue, October 1996; sediment concentration and particle size, water years 1996-2005.

BIOLOGICAL

 

ALGAE: Water years 1980-81, 1996-98, and 2002 to current year.

 

BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES: Water years 1997-98, 2002 to current year.

 

FISH: Water year 1998, 2003 to current year.

 

HABITAT: Water years 1997-98, 2003, 2005.

 

GAGE.-- U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's water-stage recorder and satellite telemeter, and crest-stage gage. Datum of gage is 418.00 ft above NGVD of 1929 (levels by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) (417.65 ft NAVD 1988). Prior to Nov. 25, 1992 and Oct. 1, 1994 to current; auxiliary gage (05585500) at site 10.0 mi upstream. Nov. 25, 1992 to Sept. 30, 1994; auxiliary gage operated at this site (05586100).

 

REMARKS.-- Occasional regulation at low flow by navigation dam at La Grange. Since Jan. 17, 1900, flow has included diversion from Lake Michigan through Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Suspended-sediment samples were collected by local observers generally twice weekly with additional samples collected during high runoff periods. Since February 1994, samples used to compute sediment record have been collected at upstream side Rt. 106 bridge at Florence at mile 56.

 

EXTREMES FOR PERIOD OF RECORD.--

SURFACE-WATER DISCHARGE AND STAGE: Maximum discharge, 123,000 ft3/s, May 26-28, 1943; maximum gage height, 28.61 ft, May 26, 1943; minimum daily discharge, 1,330 ft3/s, Sept. 2, 1984.

SUSPENDED-SEDIMENT CONCENTRATIONS: Maximum daily, 3,720 mg/L, Apr. 14, 1981; minimum daily, 14 mg/L, Dec. 26, 1984, July 21, 1993.

SUSPENDED-SEDIMENT LOADS: Maximum daily, 410,000 tons, June 4, 1980; minimum daily, 172 tons, Sept. 2, 1984.

 

REMARKS FOR CURRENT YEAR.--Algae community samples were collected as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment program (NAWQA) in the lower Illinois River Basin. A qualitative sample was collected in accordance with NAWQA protocols (Cuffney and others, 1993). The qualitative periphyton sample is a composite of all samples collected from all periphyton microhabitats present within the sampling reach. All samples were processed by the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. The sampling reach begins at river mile 59, upstream of Big Blue Island, and continues downstream for 2460 ft.



PERIPHYTON ALGAE, QUALITATIVE
[The algal taxa listed below were identified at the indicated reach. sp., species; Chlorophyta, Green algae; Cyanophyta, Blue-green algae; Chrysophyta, Golden algae, for example diatoms; Cryptophyta, Cryptophytes; Euglenophyta, Euglenoids; Pyrrhophyta, Dinoflagellates; Rhodophyta, Red algae]

Phylum
Taxon

Reach A
9/8/1997

Chlorophyta
Basicladia chelonum Hoffman & Tilden
Chlorella vulgaris Beyerinck
Unknown Chlorophyte alga
Chrysophyta
Amphora pediculus (Kützing) Grunow
Amphora veneta Kützing
Caloneis schumanniana (Grunow) Cleve
Craticula citrus (Krasske) Reichardt
Cylindrotheca gracilis (Brébisson) Grunow
Cymatopleura solea (Brébisson) Smith
Cymbella affinis Kützing
Cymbella delicatula Kützing
Diadesmis confervacea Kützing
Diadesmis contenta (Grunow ex Van Heurck) Mann
Diploneis puella (Schumann) Cleve
Fragilaria capucina var. mesolepta Rabenhorst
Gomphonema minutum (Agardh) Agardh
Gomphonema parvulum (Kützing) Kützing
Gyrosigma scalproides (Rabenhorst) Cleve
Hantzschia amphioxys (Ehrenberg) Grunow
Mayamaea atomus (Kützing) Lange-Bertalot
Melosira varians Agardh
Meridion circulare (Greville) Agardh
Navicula cryptocephala Kützing
Navicula cryptotenella Lange-Bertalot ex Krammer et Lange-Bertalot
Navicula reichardtiana Lange-Bertalot
Navicula tripunctata (Müller) Bory
Neidium ampliatum (Ehrenberg) Krammer
Neidium dubium (Ehrenberg) Cleve
Nitzschia acicularis (Kützing) Smith
Nitzschia angustatula Lange-Bertalot
Nitzschia microcephala Grunow
Nitzschia recta Hantzsch ex Rabenhorst
Nitzschia solita Hustedt
Planothidium lanceolatum (Brébisson ex Kützing) Lange-Bertalot
Rhoicosphenia abbreviata (Agardh) Lange-Bertalot
Stauroneis smithii Grunow
Surirella minuta Brébisson
Cryptophyta
Cryptomonas erosa Ehrenberg
Cyanophyta
Jaaginema pseudogeminatum (Schmidle) Anagnostidis & Komárek
Leptolyngbya polysiphoniae (Frémy) Anagnostidis
Merismopedia tenuissima Lemmermann
Oscillatoria angustissima West & West
Oscillatoria limnetica Lemmermann
Oscillatoria raoi De Toni
Phormidium ambiguum Gomont
Phormidium ambiguum var. major Lemmermann
Phormidium boryanum
Phormidium breve
Phormidium formosum
Phormidium laetevirens
Pseudanabaena amphigranulata (Van Goor) Anagnostidis
Unknown Cyanophyte banana-shaped filament UL NAWQA EDJ
Euglenophyta
Phacus acuminatus Stokes



Table of Contents

Introduction

Station Descriptions

Surface-Water Data

Ground-Water Data

Meteorological Data

Biological Data