About Us

Introduction

First formed on Feb. 14, 1823 by the General Assembly as the Board of Canal Commissioners with five members, the Office of Water Resources has a long history beginning with flood control and navigation issues that later grew to include regulation of streams and rivers, locks and dams, construction issues, water conservation, the National Flood Insurance Program and more.

The Board of Canal Commissioners produced a report and was replaced with the first of three Canal Commissions created in 1825, 1829 and 1835. In 1830 the second of these was the first to plat Chicago and Ottawa in 1830. The five members of the 1835 Commission began construction of the I&M Canal in July 1836. The Commission was reorganized in 1837 with three members chosen by the General Assembly.

Financial difficulties in 1845 led to the Canal being turned over to a Board of Trustees until the Canal left the red and was then reverted to the State. The Canal was completed and opened for navigation in April 1848. The Canal Trustees submitted their final report in 1871 and returned the Canal to the State of Illinois.

The successor Canal Commission, consisting of three members, was set up in 1870 and continued until 1917 when the Commission was made a part of the newly created Division of Waterways.

Our Mission and Duties

The Office of Water Resources is the lead state agency for water resources planning, navigation, floodplain management, the National Flood Insurance Program, and interstate organizations on water resources. Interagency duties include the state water plan, drought response, flood emergency situation reports, and the comprehensive review of Illinois water use law.

The Division of Resource Management administers regulatory programs over construction in the floodways of rivers, lakes, and streams; construction in the shorewaters of Lake Michigan; construction and operation of dams; construction in public bodies of water; diversion of water from Lake Michigan; and withdrawal of water from Lake Shelbyville, Carlyle Lake, and Rend Lake. Resource Management inspects dams, gives permits, coordinates the National Flood Insurance Program and regulates floodplains.

In addition to its normal functions, the Division of Planning gathers water resource data prior, during and following a flood or other disaster. This data is assembled and disseminated to various state and local agencies. Representatives of the Division act as the Technical Liason to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and provide daily briefings on flood conditions of monitored streams throughout the state and its boundary waters. In cooperation with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a summary sheet of river stage information is provided here.

The primary capital activity of the office is in the area of urban flood damage reduction. The office assists units of local government with urban flood damage reduction projects through planning, design, construction, and financial assistance. The urban program also features the acquisition of flood prone homes and businesses.

Structure of the Illinois Office of Water Resources

The Office of Water Resources consists of five divisions: Planning, Project Implementation, Resource Management, Program Development, and Administrative Services. Office personnel operate the William G. Stratton lock and dam on the Fox River, the Sinnissippi Dam on Rock River, and other state-owned dams or water control facilities. The office sponsors water resources research and operates stream gauging stations, flood gauges, and lake water stage recorders in cooperation with federal, state, and local cooperators.

In past times, the streams of Illinois were used mainly as sources of water supply for man or beast and as highways of transportation and communication. The Division of Waterways' attention soon focussed on the inadequate ability of the Illinois Waterway to haul freight competitively, and by 1916 the Illinois and Michigan Canal had very little traffic at all. The Marseilles Lock and Dam when completed was 600 feet long and as wide as the Panama Canal. The new Lockport Lock and Dam had the distinction of having the highest lift of any lock of its size in the world, 41 feet.

The Illinois Legislature created the Department of Purchases and Construction in 1925. Some of the authority formerly vested in the Illinois Waterway Commission was assigned to the newly created Department to enable the design and construction of the Illinois Waterway, with the provision that its powers become void upon completion of the project. The Division of Waterways was thereupon transferred to the new department with the provision for the duration of the waterway project. In 1933 the Department of Purchases and Construction was abolished and the Division of Waterways was again made part of the Department of Public Works and Buildings.

The waterway project completed, Waterways turned its attention to surveying the boundaries of Lake Michigan and Wolf Lake, determining the divide between private encroaching lands, and the public lands in holding for everyone. Collection, compilation and dissemination of information on river flow led to agreements with the US Geological Survey to set up stream gaging programs that are still going today. Swampland draining and the creation of drainage districts to reclaim farmlands continued as well.

In 1943, highway and all other purely civilian improvements had to be subordinated to more vital national needs for the duration of the war. Approximately 80% of the Division of Waterways' work came under war related activity, including maintenance and operation of 14 movable and 23 fixed bridges on the Illinois waterway between Lockport and Grafton. Much war material was being water-shipped and hundreds of naval vessels built in Great Lakes shipyards (including gigantic submarines)were navigated down the waterway to outfitting ports. Flood control work along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, especially in the vicinity of war production industries. Cooperation in solving drainage problems affecting agricultural lands, public utilities and war industries such as channel improvements, and channel changes. Cooperation with State and Federal civilian defense agencies in blacking out bridges, etc. Protection of vital water control structures, such as dams, gates and weirs on various public waters.

Post war projects emphasized flood control.

A History of the Office of Water Resources

The history of the Office of Water Resources can be traced back to 1823 when the Illinois Legislature formed the Illinois Michigan Canal Commission. The Office as it is known today was organized in 1917 when the Civil Administrative Code combined the authorities Canal Commissioners, the Rivers and Lakes Commission and the Illinois Waterway Commission. The foundational powers of the Office are covered by the Rivers, Lakes and Streams Act which was passed in 1911.

The earliest activities of the Office concentrated on the Illinois River and other large river basin issues including flood control, public waters protection and navigation. The design of the navigation system that we have today on the Illinois River as well as the construction of the locks and dams at Marseilles and Starved Rock was accomplished by Water Resources before the State ran out of money for the system and turned it over to the Corps of Engineers. The Office of Water Resources currently operates under the authorities covered by more than 50 State statutes.

Under the authority of these statutes the Office of Water Resources regulates construction the floodways of rivers and streams; regulates construction of appropriate uses in designated floodways in northeastern Illinois; allocates diversion of water from Lake Michigan; regulates construction in the shorewaters of Lake Michigan; protects public bodies of water from private encroachment; regulates dam safety; operates state locks, and waterways; administers lands and waters of the Illinois Waterway and Kaskaskia River navigation project; coordinates National Flood Insurance Program; plans the conservation of water resources; administers state water supply storage at Carlyle, Shelbyville, Rend and Kinkaid reservoirs; plans, and constructs projects to assist units of local government urban flood damage reduction including acquisition of flood properties; represents Illinois in three river basin commissions and national organizations of water resources, floodplain management, urban flood control and dam safety officials; as lead state agency for federal urban flood control and navigation projects, state water planning, and state water laws and policies.

Water resource data collection and mapping has always been a priority program of the Office of Water Resources. The first annual report of the agency which was published in 1918 had a section entitled “Importance of Stream Gaging Records.” This report stated that “during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, the Division of Waterways in cooperation with the U. S. Geological Survey maintained 25 gaging stations on the principal rivers in the State.”

Today the Office of Water Resources is staffed by 62 personnel, located in offices in Springfield, Chicago and Bartlett. With this staff the Office of Water Resources will continue to maintain its core regulatory and construction programs. In the future the Office of Water Resources recognizes needs to address issues, laws and programs to manage resource problems such as instream flow protection, drought management, groundwater development, expanding public water supplies, innovative dredging and dam removals.
 

Water Management in the 19th Century

Early in the 19th century, Illinois was composed of millions of acres of relatively flat swampland due to poor or nonexistent drainage, and lack of protection from flooding. Much of that century was spent in attempts to drain the water off, without much success. The 1850 Swamplands Act gave still unsold lands to the State, nearly 1,500,000 acres worth, and the State passed the lands to the counties expecting drainage benefits, that generally, were not forthcoming. 

A clause to the Constitution in 1870 allowed the State to pass laws regarding drainage and the rights of landholders to build drainage features across their neighbors land, which next year became law. The Act was shortly found to be unconstitutional and rewritten stronger than before in 1879. The Farm Drainage Act of 1885 along with the Levee Act of 1879 form a firm basis for the organization, financing, and operation of drainage districts which quickly came into existence.

By 1920 the number of drainage districts levelled off, the last forming in 1937. 

Six and a half million acres were found in 1928 to still require drainage, and that 5,310,000 of these were in the process of being organized. 

Chicago Water Management in the 19th Century

In 1822 Canal legislation was passed and the Illinois and Michigan Canal was opened for river traffic in 1848. Up to the 1860’s the city of Chicago had dumped its waste into the Chicago River and ultimately into Lake Michigan, but in 1865 obtained permission to pump sewage from the Chicago River into the Illinois & Michigan Canal. By 1881 the canal had become a health hazard and was not working out as a transportation conduit either. In 1889 the Chicago Sanitary District was formed to build the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal, the main channel of which was completed in 1900. The Sanitary and Ship Canal extended from the Des Plaines River to the Chicago River’s south branch, causing a reversal of flow in the Chicago River, and diverting Lake water into the Mississippi River system. New sewers fed wastes into the river rather than the Lake. During heavy rains, sewage contaminated waters backed up into the Lake however, which served as the city’s water supply. Later, an additional North Shore Channel was constructed from the north branch of the Chicago River to the Lake.

Prior to 1900, the City of Chicago discharged sewage directly into Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, and Calumet River.

In 1922, the Sanitary District completed the Calumet-Sag Channel extending the Sanitary and Ship Canal, and reversing the Calumet and Little Calumet Rivers as well as another diversion of lake water into Illinois.

Early in the 1920’s the Sanitary District began constructing an extensive system of intercepting sewers and sewage treatment works.

A 1930 Supreme Court decision necessitated a reduction in water taken from the lake. And, the growing city was overloading existing sewer systems leading to backups into tens of thousands of basements. New sewers eased the basement flooding, but led instead to overloaded rivers and the 1954 overflowing into Union Station and the Chicago Daily News building before water could escape via a navigation lock into the Lake. The Calumet and North Branch Chicago River reversed course to overflow into the Lake as well.

Before sewage treatment plants were built in the early 1900s, the combined sewage flowed directly into the waterways. By the 1950s, the District's treatment plants could capture and treat about a billion gallons per day.
 

A History of Flood Control & Drainage in Northeastern Illinois

By Arlan Juhl, P.E., Office of Water Resources

The Chicagoland area is topographically dominated by the glacial Lake Chicago plain encompassing the Chicago River, Des Plaines River, and the Calumet River. Early explorers discovered the Chicago Portage, an area within Mud Lake which was only 15 feet above the level of Lake Michigan and on the watershed divide between the Mississippi River basin and the Great Lakes basin.

The Chicagoland area experienced many early drainage challenges. The natural condition was swampy and Chicago streets were poorly drained and muddy. The level of Lake Michigan was only two feet below the river banks, making subsurface drainage ineffective. Sewage discharged into the Chicago River created health hazards for the region.

In 1834, the first attempt to solve the sanitation problem of Chicago included a drainage ditch dug down State Street and emptying into the Chicago River. Later, the City of Chicago raised streets, then buildings eight to ten feet above natural ground level. This helped to drain the streets and to get the sewage to the river more efficiently, but the river could not cleanse itself of the sewage due to the high level of Lake Michigan.

The Illinois and Michigan Canal was authorized by Congress on March 2, 1827. The canal had a summit level eight feet above lake level, with water being supplied to the summit level from
 

1) the Calumet Feeder Canal bringing Little Calumet River water through Sag Valley and Ausaganaskee Swamp to the summit level at Sag Bridge,

2) the Des Plaines River (the canal and the Des Plaines River ran together at Sag Bridge, but the river supplied little water during low flow), and

3) two steam pumps at Bridgeport which could lift about 100 cubic feet of water per second from the South Branch Chicago River to the summit level. The Illinois and Michigan Canal, completed in 1848, flowed from present day Summit to LaSalle. From 1861 through 1870, the City of Chicago paid to operate the Bridgeport pumps an additional 45 days per year to flush sewage from the Chicago River and away from the lake. Between 1867 and 1871, the city deepened the canal between Bridgeport and Lockport to eliminate the summit level, providing gravity flow from the lake to Lockport at the rate of 160 to 550 cubic feet per second. The first recorded reversal of the Chicago River flow was in 1871.

The 1872 flood diverted almost all the Des Plaines River flows into the Chicago River through the Ogden-Wentworth Ditch, causing significant pollution within the Chicago River when the sewage could no longer be sent downstream. A dam was constructed across OgdenWentworth Ditch to prevent future diversions of Des Plaines River flows.

A new steam pump and guard lock was installed at Bridgeport in 1884, reestablishing the summit level. Pumping capacity was 1,000 cubic feet per second at normal lake level. At the request of Indiana, the Calumet Feeder had been abandoned and the Little Calumet River dam removed in 1874. The Bridgeport pumps were the main source of water to the canal until 1900, averaging 500 cubic feet per second.

In 1885. a large rainfall washed sewage and refuse out of Chicago and the Chicago River into Lake Michigan, polluting the cities water supply. In 1887 the Drainage and Water Supply Commission recommended a major plan for collecting and disposing of Chicago's sewage.

The Illinois General Assembly authorized the establishment of the Sanitary District of Chicago in 1889 to implement the construction of the Sanitary and Ship Canal to carry away waste from the city and to dilute it as it flowed downstream. Construction began in 1892, and flow through the Sanitary and Ship Canal began January 17, 1900. The North Shore Channel enlargement, begun in 1907and completed in 1910, diverted more lake water to aid in dilution, and the Chicago River was enlarged in 1912. Construction of the Cal-Sag Channel began in 1911 and was completed in 1922, causing the reversal of flow in the Calumet River away from Lake Michigan. A Supreme Court decree in 1933 ordered the construction of the Chicago River lock and controlling works which was completed in 1938. The Chicagoland area outside of the City of Chicago experienced many drainage alterations as well.  Much of the South Branch Chicago River and the Little Calumet River basins were poorly drained in their natural setting.  Agricultural and developmental interests constructed miles of drainage ditches, constructed as 'parallel ditches" with the excavated material being deposited between the ditches to be used as roadways.

The Farm Drainage Act of 1879 established the authority to create drainage districts, marking the beginning of a period of significant drainage modifications in agricultural areas. The number of drainage districts and the acreage served by these districts grew rapidly. By 1929, 88 drainage districts covered 177,595 acres of the Chicago River, Little Calumet River, Des Plaines River, DuPage River and Fox River basins. By 1971, 180 drainage districts were listed in an "Inventory of Drainage and Levee Districts" within Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Kane and Will Counties.

As more land became developed with housing, streets and shopping areas, a greater amount of runoff from this developed ground ran to the sewers. Sewers became overloaded and frequently backed up into low areas, basements and underpasses, then over-flowed to the local streams, carrying polluted waters with it. The storm water runoff, mixed with sanitary sewage and became combined sewage, a large and difficult problem in the Chicagoland area. Suburban communities which developed after World War II realized the value of separate sewer systems to handle sanitary sewage and stormwater runoff. Suburban communities have installed countless miles of storm sewers to accommodate the modern drainage needs of the communities and replacing the drainage systems provided by drainage districts. Most storm sewer systems are able to handle the runoff from low intensity rainfall events before the area begins to show its historically swampy nature.

Studies in the late 1960's recommended the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP) as a means to solve this problem. TARP tunnels include the Mainstem, Calumet, Des Plaines and Upper Des Plaines systems, totally 109 miles of tunnels. These tunnels capture 85% of the combined sewer over-flows which had been discharging into the rivers and streams. TARP's three reservoirs , when completed, will provide significant flood control and eliminate the remaining 15% of combined sewer over-flows.

Flooding of rivers in the Chicagoland area is a natural phenomenon.  Agricultural areas flooded along with natural wetlands. The magnitude of these floods and the effects upon man grew as the metropolitan area developed. Flood events of historical significance have occurred across the region during 1848, 1855, 1885, 1938, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1973, 1979, 1986, 1987, and 1996.  Most record setting flood stages and discharges in the region have been recorded since 1948.

Flood control and watershed planning in the Chicagoland region is managed by a group of federal, state and local agencies. These include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S,D.A., Natural Resource Conservation Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Water Resources, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, the Cook County Stormwater Management Committee, the DuPage County Stormwater Management Division, the Kane County Department of Environmental Management, the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission, the McHenry County Stormwater Management Division, and the Will County Stormwater Management Division.

By the early 1980's several watershed plans were developed to address flood problems along the North Branch Chicago River, Upper Des Plaines River, Lower Des Plaines Tributaries, Poplar Creek, Upper Salt Creek and the Little Calumet River. When completed, these plans will have resulted in the implementation of 43.9 miles of channel modifications and 41,128 acre-feet (1 3.4 billion gallons) of floodwater storage facilities, including the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan. Flooding remains a serious problem along the main channel of the Des Plaines River and the Little Calumet River and many smaller Chicagoland streams. A 1998 estimate puts annual flood damages at $41,459,000 in the Chicagoland area, affecting nearly 20,000 homes and businesses.

Local, state and federal agencies and individuals have become increasingly aware of the unmitigated impacts of urbanization on drainage and flooding. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District implemented the first stormwater detention ordinance in 1972. This ordinance required new developments to detain a portion of the increased runoff and to restrict the outlet capacity of the detention basin to a predevelopment discharge. In the Chicagoland area it has now become standard practice to provide stormwater detention within new subdivisions to control the rate of runoff to predevelopment rates. However, as new rooftops and parking lots are constructed, the previously permeable soil can no longer absorb rainfall, increasing the volume of stormwater to be drained from the land. The streams, forced to carry increasing volumes of runoff, flood and create renewed interests in watershed management. Record-setting floods occurred throughout the region in 1986 and 1987. The 1986 flood was triggered by widespread regional rainfall with varying intensity and duration which had been preceded by two weeks of nearly continuous rain falling across northern regions of the Des Plaines, North Branch Chicago, and Fox River watersheds. Flooding in rivers and streams across Lake, McHenry, northern Cook, northern DuPage and northern Kane Counties resulted. The 1987 flood was generated by localized, high intensity and shorter duration rainfall which dropped up to 13 inches of rainfall in some regions in less than 24 hours. This rainfall was concentrated across Cook and DuPage counties. Record river stages and flows were recorded throughout the northeastern Illinois region during the 1986 and 1987 flood events. Flood damages were great, leaving many residents and motoring public stranded and without access to services. The 1986 and 1987 floods generated enough public awareness of the continued problems of drainage and flooding for the Illinois General Assembly to pass legislation authorizing the formation of countrywide stormwater management programs. Such programs, in conjunction with state and federal programs, are providing stormwater management planning, watershed planning, regulation of construction within floodplain areas, and new sources of funding to manage local drainage and flooding problems.
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago", a pamphlet describing the duties and projects of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

"Sanitary Strategy for a Lakefront Metropolis, The Case of Chicago", Louis Cain, Northern Illinois University Press, 1978

"Lake Diversion at Lake Michigan", Bruce Barker, P.E., Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Water Resources. 1985
 

"Engineering and Legal Aspects of Land Drainage in Illinois", G.W. Pickels and F. B. Leonard, State of Illinois, Department of Registration and Education, Division of State Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 42, 1929

"The Sanitary District of Chicago: A Case Study of Water Use and Conservation", Louis Perkins Cain, 111, Northwestern University, June, 1969

"History of Chicago from the Earliest Period to the Present Time", Volume 1, A.T. Andreas, 1884

"History of Chicago, Historical and Commercial Statistics", William Bross, 1876

"In The Supreme Court of the United States, October Term 1966, Report of Albert B. Marris, Special master", December 8, 1966
 

Awards

Awards

2001 Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois Engineering Excellence Honor Award - The Chicago Inner Harbor Turning Basin Project

Withdrawing water from one watershed and discharging it to another has long been an issue in the Great Lakes region. There have been many court decrees regarding water diversion since the early 1900's and today Illinois' diversion is limited to 3,200 cubic feet per second. A number of factors including above average precipitation, high Lake Michigan water levels, Chicago Lock operation for navigation, and uncontrolled leakage through structures separating the Chicago River from Lake Michigan, resulted in Illinois exceeding the diversion limit.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources hired CTE to design and supervise construction of a new watertight cutoff wall, pump station, and four 10-foot x 10-foot sluice gates to control the most serious area of uncontrolled leakage at the mouth of the Chicago River in the Chicago River Turning Basin. The project also included upgrades for power, telephone service and site drainage, a new service drive and access road to the facility, as well as the rehabilitation and upgrade of adjacent public access lakefront facilities.

In addition to controlling lake water leakage, the new facilities add value to the Lakefront. The cutoff wall facilitated construction of a new 450-slip boat marina on the south side of the wall that greatly increased revenues collected by the Chicago Park District. The final design was consistent with the City's unified concept of beautification and its upgrade of the entire Chicago metropolitan lakefront. The new cutoff wall offers a panoramic view of the Chicago skyline.

Contributing to the progress of the engineering profession, a number of technological innovations were applied in the design and construction of the new facilities. For the first time ever, CORE-LOC precast concrete units were used as a unique baffling system. Compared to other alternatives, this new application reduced the length of the structure and the number of sluice gates necessary to convey the allowable discharge by 50%, and promoted a new technique for similar projects. In addition, the use of expanding silicon/rubber sealant and a two-component epoxy for the bolted connections at the main wall reduced construction time and cost. Special design of the cutoff wall prevents excessive ice build-up from affecting the old Coast Guard Station and the access road during the harsh winter months.

2003 Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois Engineering Excellence Honor Award - The Reconstruction of Sinnissippi Dam

Because of the age and extent of deterioration of the original Sinnissippi Dam, as determined by Collins Engineers, Inc. during an extensive feasibility study, complete replacement of the steel tainter gate and rubble fill crib dam facility was recommended.

Ultimately, the replacement dam consisted of more than 500 feet of pnuematically operated hinged-leaf gates with an additional 500 feet of concrete 0gee spillway.

Innovative aspects of the design included: heated stainless steel pier face plate embedments to assist in gate deicing and promote wintertime gate operation; a system of galvanized steel stoplogs and stainless steel embedded slots to create bulkheads for gate dewatering; a galvanized steel access bridge for crane movements and gate maintenance operations; and a fully automated gate operating system for 24 hour monitoring and proper discharge capacity at the Sinnissippi Dam for all headwater conditions.