Bad Construction Site Entrance

Help us keep rivers clean by attending our free construction site workshop!

On Saturday, March 14, Prairie Rivers Network and Sierra Club are holding a half-day workshop on how to monitor construction sites for erosion and harmful stormwater runoff. Many of Illinois’ rivers have too much soil in them because storms wash bare soil from construction sites into nearby storm sewers and streams. {Continue Reading »}

A report released today by the government’s National Research Council says the federal government is failing to protect America’s waterways from pollution caused when heavy rain and snow washes off cities, construction sites and roadways.

The study report is available at: http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/nrc_stormwaterreport.pdf

The NRC press release is at: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12465

What Is It?

Storm Drain Stenciling is an event where community groups, scouts, neighborhood organizations, and watershed groups stencil the message “DUMP NO WASTE-DRAINS TO RIVERS” on the storm drains in their neighborhood. Other team members deliver door hangers or flyers that inform neighborhood residents of the stenciling project and pick up trash and debris that could eventually find it’s way down the storm drain to the river. Stenciling is a fun and easy way to educate people about the fate of stormwater runoff, a major source of water pollution.

Stormwater runoff collects many contaminants as it travels across streets, driveways, yards, or parking lots before entering a drain. In most communities, storm drains lead directly to local rivers and streams, not to treatment facilities, carrying the untreated and polluted storm water. Consequently, the cumulative effects of polluted stormwater runoff can be devastating to the health and vitality of Illinois’ rivers, lakes, and streams. {Continue Reading »}

Construction sites are one of the primary sources of sediment pollution in rivers. The removal of vegetation and disturbance of the ground during normal construction activities destabilizes the soil. When it rains or the snow melts, the soil is moved off the construction site with the flowing storm water and winds up in nearby waterways. The deposition of soil into water bodies is known as sedimentation. Sedimentation results in the loss of spawning habitat, smothers the gills of aquatic organisms, and is the leading cause of water impairment in Illinois. {Continue Reading »}

At Construction Sites

Silt fences can reduce sediment polllution from entering rivers

Many of you have seen large construction projects underway in your neighborhoods, and you may have noticed a lot of dirt coming off the site. This dirt that is tracked into roads or washed off the construction site ends up in our streams where it settles, smothering streambeds and destroying habitat, and muddies the water, making it difficult for fish to see their prey.

Existing law, under the water pollution permitting program of the Clean Water Act, requires that dirt be maintained on site to the extent possible and states that construction sites may not contribute to stream impairments. To comply with the law, each construction site must develop and implement a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan that describes the techniques the contractor will use to prevent soil from leaving the site. Unfortunately, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) does not review these plans or monitor sites frequently to ensure that plans are followed. Therefore, it is up to local citizens and local governments to ensure that these laws are enforced. {Continue Reading »}

Flooded stormdrain

Urban areas are dominated by hard surfaces such as streets, roofs, and parking lots. These surfaces allow very little rain and snow to penetrate into the ground underneath, and are therefore called impervious surfaces. Whereas natural land cover absorbs about 90% of precipitation, suburban neighborhoods may only soak up about 70% and downtowns are even worse at 45%. What is not absorbed by the ground flows downhill and becomes stormwater runoff.

For more information on how you can help, visit our Stormwater Runoff page.