For millions of years, humans have relied on rivers to survive. From small villages to great civilizations, the earliest human settlements emerged alongside the banks of rivers – their waterways providing essential, natural resources (Water Science School, 2022). They have played such an important role in human history that wars have been fought over them, one of the oldest known conflicts being the Umma-Lagash Dispute, a war fought over border disagreements and the control of the Al-Gharraf River around 2400 BC in present-day southern Iraq (Daley, 2018).
In the past, people sacrificed their lives to protect the environment they and their loved ones depended on to survive. Today, it’s hard to find someone willing to sacrifice their daily routine for the sake of conservation; therefore, as a result of this reckless apathy, every year more people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war (United Nations, 2014).
Pollution is the biggest problem our rivers currently face and almost all of it comes from humans. Sewage waste, agricultural runoff, and simple disregard for proper contaminant disposal procedures are just a few things that contribute to water pollution. According to the United Nations, roughly 730 million metric tons of sewage, industrial, and agricultural waste are discharged every year into the world’s waterways, including important freshwater resources like rivers (United Nations, 2003).
One river in particular that’s essential for the health and livelihoods of millions of people is not only one of the most important waterways in the United States Midwest, but it’s also one of the most polluted: the Des Plaines River.
The Des Plaines River watershed covers 1,455 square miles, beginning near Union Grove, Wisconsin in Racine County and flowing south through Kenosha County. The river continues its voyage through Lake, Cook, a tiny sliver of DuPage, and Will Counties in Illinois, later converging with the Kankakee River and forming the Illinois River. The Illinois River then flows into the Mississippi River and continues south, finally ending its journey in the Gulf of Mexico (Des Plaines River Watershed, 2022).
The freshwater and plentiful fish in the Des Plaines river provided abundant resources for those who lived near it. According to Bill Bertrand, chief streams biologist for the Department of Conservation, the Des Plaines River has large amounts of bass [along with bluegill, northern pike, carp, and sauger] that can be found in the wetland area in Lake County and the lower end of the I-55 bridge a few miles above Joliet, Illinois (Husar, 1991). The environment surrounding the river also houses an array of animals such as white-tailed deer, coyotes, and, of course, humans. The river was even used to brew beer in Riverside, Illinois after the Mueller Brewery was built in 1856 (Tybor, 1997). However, the scenic river and its surrounding environment changed when the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal began.
Chicago was one of the fastest growing cities in the world in the 1800s, but the Chicago River that flowed through the city and into Lake Michigan was terribly polluted with human waste. Since it was polluting Lake Michigan, it was polluting the city’s freshwater resource. This led to many sick citizens in the city and surrounding areas. The Chicago River was so polluted, one area “became known for bubbles that would rise up from the rotting stockyard carcasses below” (Greene, 2021).
So, in “a herculean effort to save the city from the ravages of typhoid, cholera, and other waterborne illnesses, engineer Sylvester Chesbrough suggested Chicago reverse the direction of its river away from the lake and toward the Mississippi River. It would cost millions of dollars and take years of hard work” (Baer, 2018); however, all of this hard work would eventually pay off. Not only were they able to reverse the river, but in 1900 they built the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to carry the treated waste away from the city. Today, it still flows parallel to the Des Plaines River in the southwest suburbs and eventually connects with it in North Joliet, Illinois (Tybor, 1997).
Although this engineering feat was beneficial for those who lived above the canal and river connection, the same couldn’t be said for those living below it. Even though waste in the canal water was treated, it wasn’t completely removed. Because of this, the waste that infected the Des Plaines River created a domino effect that lead to the pollution of all the other waterways it flowed into. This included the Mississippi River, where many people who lived near it at the time of the canal construction complained of the very issues still affecting it today.
The city of “St. Louis filed an injunction against the reversal [of the Chicago River] on January 17” 1900 when the canal was being built. “Their case eventually went to the Supreme Court, which decided in Chicago’s favor. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that the Mississippi was, indeed, foul – but the putrid waters couldn’t be blamed entirely on Chicago, since several other cities much closer to St. Louis were also discharging their waste into the river” (Baer, 2018).
Even though the courts ruled in Chicago’s favor, it didn’t mean that the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal wasn’t significantly contributing to the pollution problem in the Mississippi River, the Des Plaines River, and all the other connecting waterways. In fact, future studies would show that the canal has a much greater impact on the environment than what was previously believed. For example, the Des Plaines River still faces problems today with “significant hazards from raw sewage surging into the river when rainstorms overwhelm sewers” (Hawthorne, 2019). Many people living near the Des Plaines River know that it’s notorious for frequent flooding, so much so that Patrick M. O’Connell with the Chicago Tribune wrote that flood mitigation programs have aimed to tear down most of the homes ravaged by the [constant] rising waters” (O’Connell, 2018).
More evidence revealing the harmful effects of wastewater contaminating the river can be found in Environmentalist Libby Hill’s book The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History, where two biologists from the Illinois Natural History Survey documented conditions in the summer of 1911 near the mouth of the Des Plaines River. (Baer, 2018). There, they found, “The water was grayish and sloppy, with foul, privy odors distinguishable in hot weather. Putrescent masses of soft, graying, or blackish, slimy matter, loosely held together by threads of fungi were floating down the stream” (Baer, 2018).
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal has a more profound effect on the connecting waterway’s poor conditions than what the courts made it out to be in the past. The canal has become a highway for invasive species such as zebra mussels, it diverts an estimated 23,000 gallons of precious fresh water toward the Mississippi and into the ocean every second (Baer, 2018), and its direct connection with the Des Plaines River destroys the waterway’s ecosystem profoundly. A study conducted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency had found that 20 percent of the river was either threatened by pollutants or was so dirty that it wasn’t safe for swimming or fishing (Quintanilla, 1997).
Recent studies from 2020 to 2022 also reveal the unsatisfactory conditions found in the Des Plaines River. Tristan Widloe, a biologist working in the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Division of Fisheries, provided documents proving harmful contaminants had been found throughout the river, mainly in areas where aquatic life resides and even where fish consumption takes place. These contaminants include chloride, phosphorus, mercury, arsenic, aldrin (insecticide), methoxychlor (insecticide), lindane (insecticide), polychlorinated biphenyl (a banned substance in the United States), nickel, and even fecal coliform; thus, revealing the failure to fully treat wastewater that can ultimately cause reproduction issues, disease, and even death.
Many industrial and community discharges are also responsible for polluting the river due to select organizations still being allowed to dump waste in the waterway by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Des Plaines River Watershed, 2022). It was so bad at one point that 70 businesses and two sewage treatment plants in Lake County alone were permitted to discharge into its waters. The list included chemical companies, an oil refinery, a tollway plaza, several restaurants and a gravel pit” (Quintanilla, 1997). As of 2018, “toxic waste contaminated water sources near all but two of the coal-fired power plants in Illinois” (Hawthorne, 2018). This waste finds its way into our freshwater “where testing shows harmful levels of arsenic, chromium, lead and other heavy metals are steadily oozing through the ground toward lakes and rivers” (Hawthorne, 2018), and according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, ten of the energy sites pose a danger to the drinking water supplies of nearby communities, including the Joliet dump and ash pits surrounding an NRG coal plant along the Des Plaines River in Romeoville (Hawthorne, 2018).
Dumping rights also apply to agricultural organizations that surround the source and other parts of the Des Plaines River. These organizations allow pesticides and other chemicals to be carried off by agricultural runoff, thereby infecting every waterway it flows into. When asked about possible future developments for the Des Plaines River, officials working at the Racine County Parks Department believed the river didn’t flow through their county. Not only is the source of the Des Plaines River found in Racine County, but companies like the ALCIVIA Union Grove Agronomy, an agricultural and energy cooperative, have farms surrounding the river’s origin with agricultural runoff being dumped directly into the river. If officials in Racine County don’t know that the river not only flows but begins there, it’s unlikely that they are aware of the pollution affecting the river as well.
To show how damaging agricultural pollutants can be to waterways, “The Mississippi River [alone] carries an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution into the Gulf of Mexico each year, creating a ‘dead zone.’ This dead zone is an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life. This phenomenon is primarily caused by an excess of agricultural nutrients that flow downstream and into surface waters, stimulating harmful algae” (Smith, 2021). Similar problems affect the Des Plaines River, with many local fisherman reporting mass fish kill in several parts of the river. This could be directly related to the dumping that takes place at the source of the river, along with the many other contributing pollutants.
With toxic waste, agricultural runoff, and common litter all contributing to the pollution of the Des Plaines River, it can seem like a daunting task to clean it up; however, there are things that can and have been done to improve the quality of the river.
For example, an obvious solution for improving the river’s water quality is to stop polluting. Even if you don’t throw your trash in the river directly, it still eventually ends up there due to wind, flooding, and animals. Our trash is even found in places humans have never stepped foot in. For example, it was recently discovered that the Mariana Trench – the deepest point in the ocean – had a plastic bag floating around in it, along with other pollutants (Gibbens, 2019). Fighting trash pollution by spreading awareness about the issue is a great way to get people to take action as well, such as starting city wide, county wide, and/or state wide festivals that promote conservation, sustainability, and hold activities that clean up the river.
Dam removals have also played a huge role in restoring the river. According to Lauren Rohl with the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, Illinois, most of the dams “are more than a century old, have been deteriorating for years and no longer serve their intended purposes” (Rohr, 2017). Mick Zawislak, who is also a writer for the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, Illinois, concurs with his colleague about the issue. He adds, “Water quality and wildlife habitat along portions of the Des Plaines River are expected to improve with the removal this fall of three dams in Lake and Cook counties” (Zawislak, 2016). By getting rid of the dams, the water is free to flow unobstructed, creating less potential for pollutant buildup to form.
Flooding is another problem worth tackling when attempting to revive the river. The US Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago district got involved in this issue and released the “Upper Des Plaines River and Tributaries, Illinois and Wisconsin Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Assessment” in 2013. In the report it states, “Overall, the cumulative impact of the flood risk management project is beneficial economically, environmentally and socially. The proposed full plan would restore over 10,900 acres…” (US Army Corps of Engineers, 2013); however, at an individual level, we all need to do our part to solve this problem. Preventing erosion from occurring (the removal and transport of surface soil/rocks from one location to another) is important because it’s one of the reasons the Des Plaines River is so susceptible to flooding. There are many simple ways to prevent erosion such as not digging unnecessary holes or trenches, not operating heavy machinery around riverbeds, and not blocking useful runoffs such as reservoirs.
An indirect way to help clean up the Des Plaines River is by contacting city officials in the counties it runs through. Write letters, call, email, or even petition to get your voice heard. Our elected representatives have power to enforce stricter conservation laws, but every citizen has the power to influence the decisions they make. Anyone who pays taxes is paying the salaries of every elected official, so don’t let your money go to waste by keeping quiet. It’s also important to contact the companies that pollute the water in the first place, such as New Jersey-based NRG and Houston-based Vistra Energy. Most of the coal plants that pollute the waters in Illinois are owned by these two companies (Hawthorne, 2018).
Another way to help is to support “nonprofit groups like the Environmental Integrity Project and the Sierra Club, who are urging our representatives to require coal-plant owners to stop polluting the state’s protected waters and to set aside money to clean up their pits of hazardous coal ash” (Hawthorne, 2018).
There is so much we can do to revive the Des Plaines River. In fact, “despite the river’s bad image, state officials say it is on the rebound. In 1972, the water quality in about half of the river was considered “poor,” a distinction that means the river is severely impaired and is not suitable for swimming or fishing” (Quintanilla, 1997). Today, the water quality throughout most of the river is considered “medium,” so it’s not perfect but it’s showing signs of improvement.
If a cleaner, safer environment to live in isn’t convincing enough for people to take action, an increase in recreational activities may do the trick. The Des Plaines River offers a variety of recreational activities depending on the area it’s located in. Each area is separated by state county lines and provides unique opportunities for exploration.
Starting with the lowest section of the river, Will County in Illinois offers two canoe and kayak launches at Isle a la Cache in Romeoville and McKinley Woods’ Frederick’s Grove in Channahon. The Isle a la Cache area is located above where the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and Des Plaines River connect, while Frederick’s Grove is below it.
Above Will County is DuPage and Cook County. The Des Plaines River only flows through the southeastern corner of DuPage County, but the Forest Preserve District there oversees the Des Plaines Riverway Nature Preserve that “represents the county’s finest example of wet and wet-mesic bottomland forest and supports populations of state-endangered or threatened plants, amphibians, and birds, including marsh speedwell, cerulean warblers, black-crowned night-herons and black-billed cuckoos” (Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, 2022). The Forest Preserves of Cook County focus more on the Des Plaines River Trail, an unpaved trail that follows the river through more than a dozen forest preserves, than the river itself; however, the county does offer eight different river canoe landings and boat launches (Forest Preserves of Cook County, 2020). One can find these spots at the following locations:
- Allison Woods (near Northbrook)
- Columbia Woods (Willow Springs)
- Dam No. 2 Woods (near Mount Prospect)
- Irving Park Road Canoe Landing (Schiller Park)
- Maywood Grove (Maywood)
- Northwestern Woods (Des Plaines)
- Plank Road Meadow Boat Launch (Riverside)
- Stony Ford Canoe Landing (Lyons)
Just before the Wisconsin border sits Lake County, which offers the most variety for river recreation. According to Jenny Sazama, an environmental educator with the Lake County Forest Preserves, the public continues to use the Des Plaines River for boating, fishing, guided nature programs, water sampling and other wildlife monitoring activities. They even hold the Des Plaines River Canoe and Kayak Marathon, a tradition that’s been held for over half of a century, every May. Another activity coordinated by the Lake County Forest Preserves is the Des Plaines River stewards – volunteers who paddle the river and clear log jams, trash, and more to make the passage safer.
Kenosha County in the state of Wisconsin, according to the Director of Parks Matthew Collins, does not have recreational activities or development planned for the Des Plaines River at this time and the same goes for Racine County. More work needs to be done in both of these counties, but the same can be said about the other counties in Illinois. Everyone needs to contribute to making our environment a safer, more inviting place.
The Des Plaines River helped one of the biggest cities in the world grow to what it is today, while supplying resources to millions of people living around its path and becoming one of the most vital waterways in the United States Midwest, providing homes to a diverse array of plants and animals. Without sewage waste, agricultural runoff, and trash polluting the river, we’ll be able to experience recreation and exploration in a thriving environment once again. The river is a forgotten paradise just waiting to be remembered.
References
Baer, G. (2018). “How Chicago Reversed Its River.” WTTW Chicago. https://interactive.wttw.com/chicago-river-tour/how-chicago-reversed-river-animated.
Daley, J. (2018). “Recently deciphered 4,500-year-old pillar shows first known record of a border dispute.” Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/pillar-first-evidence-neighbors-behaving-badly-180970969/#:~:text=The%20fight%20between%20Umma%20and,an%20irrigation%20canal%2C%20similar%20to
“Des Plaines River Watershed.” (2022). Lake County, Illinois. https://www.lakecountyil.gov/2376/Des-Plaines-River-Watershed.
Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. (2022). “Places to Go-Forest Preserves-DesPlaines Riverway.” https://www.dupageforest.org/places-to-go/forest-preserves/des-plaines-riverway
Forest Preserves of Cook County. (2020). “Des Plaines Trail System.” Forest Preserves of Cook County. https://fpdcc.com/places/trails/des-plaines-trail-system/
Gibbens, S. (2019). “Plastic bag found at the bottom of world’s deepest Ocean Trench. ”National Geographic Society. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/plastic-bag-found-bottom-worlds- deepest-ocean-trench/
Greene, M. (2021). “Kayaking the Chicago River? Now you can get an estimate of bacteria levels before you go.” Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/environment/ct-chicago-river-bacteria- monitors-20210902-byqdc52ty5eo3em3wjhaedlw6m-story.html
Hawthorne, M. “Chicago River Cleanup Makes Waterway Safer for Recreation.” (2019). Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/ct-chicago-river-bacteria-cleanup-20160318-story.
Hawthorne, M. (2018). “Toxic waste from 22 coal plants in Illinois puts drinking water for nearby communities at risk, reports show.” Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-illinois-coal-plants-water-pollution-20181127-story.html
Husar, John. (1991). “Des Plaines River May Be A Bass Paradise In Waiting.” Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-03-27-9101270776- story.html
O’Connell, Patrick M. (2018). “Tech suggests more houses near Des Plaines River at risk: Flood-prone area subject of program to buy, raze homes.” Chicago Tribune.
Quintanilla, R. (1997). “IEPA Hardly Gushing Over Troubled River.” Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-07-08-9707080148-story.html
Rohr, L. (2017). “Dam removals can restore Fox, Des Plaines rivers, experts say.” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill.: Arlington Heights Ed.).
Tybor, J. (1997). “Rolling on the River Des Plaines is a Secret, Unappreciated Playground: Southwest Final, SW Edition.” Chicago Tribune.
Smith, C. (2021). “New Jersey-size ‘dead zone’ is largest ever in Gulf of Mexico.” National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/gulf-mexico-hypoxia-water-quality-dead-zone
United Nations. (2003). “UN World Water Development Report 2003.” United Nations Water. https://www.unwater.org/publications/water-people-water-life/
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2014). “Water Quality.” United Nations. https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/quality.shtml
US Army Corps of Engineers. (2013). “Flood management, ecosystem restoration outlined for Des Plaines River.” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill. : Arlington Heights Ed.).
Water Science School. (2022). “Humans thrive near water, as they do along the Nile River.” U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved from https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/humans-thrive-near-water-they-do-along-nile-river
Zawislak, M. (2016). “Lake, Cook counties to remove 3 dams along Des Plaines River.” Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill. : Arlington Heights Ed.).
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