Nippersink Creek Watershed Plan
A watershed project facilitated by Nippersink Creek Watershed
Collaboration Group |
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This project has been
undertaken by The Nippersink Creek Watershed
Collaboration Group (NCWCG) with full support from the
Nippersink Creek Watershed Planning Committee, who were
responsible for preparing the 1998 Nippersink Creek
Watershed Plan. The NCWCG was a working group of local
and regional agencies and organizations in the
Nippersink Creek watershed.
As an advocate for Nippersink Creek, members of the
NCWCG work together to foster and develop the Nippersink
Creek watershed community to protect and enhance the
high quality natural resources of the watershed. |
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Overview of the
Nippersink Creek Watershed
Nippersink Creek watershed is the largest tributary to
the Fox River, draining 137 square miles in Illinois, as
well as additional 50 square miles located in Walworth
County, Wisconsin. In the Algonquian language,
Nippersink means "place of the small waters" due to the
profusion of small springs feeding the creek. It is
among the finest streams in Illinois with the mainstem
rating a “B” Biological Stream Characterization score
and the North Branch receiving an “A” rating. The
watershed contains 46 McHenry County Natural Area
Sites. However, the stream is included on the 2000
Illinois 303(d) list for its swimming use impairment
caused by pathogens, and its receiving stream, the Fox
River, is listed for numerous water quality
impairments. |
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| Stream / Water Quality
Ratings |
The Nippersink Creek
watershed was listed as a Year 2000 high
priority area identified through the Illinois
EPA’s Targeted Watershed Approach. The wellhead
protection zones of the Village of Richmond lie
entirely in the watershed and the watershed is
part of the Northern Regional Groundwater
Protection Region.
Upstream of Wonder Lake, Nippersink Creek was
listed in the IEPA’s 305(b) Report as being in
Full Support of its Designated Uses, which are
listed as Aquatic Life and Fish Consumption.
Downstream of Wonder Lake, Nippersink Creek is
listed as impaired by the IEPA due to excessive
total fecal coliform bacteria. The stream is
considered full support for its designated uses
of aquatic life and fish consumption, but due to
the fecal coliform, it is listed as non-support
for a designated use of primary contact. The
source of this fecal coliform is listed by the
IEPA as “unknown”. Wonder Lake itself is also
listed as non-support for primary and secondary
contact with the cause listed as “unknown”.
In 2004, the United States Geological Survey
released a report Water Quality of Nippersink
Creek and Wonder Lake, McHenry County, Illinois,
1994-2001. This report discussed the water
quality impacts being experienced within Wonder
Lake, an 830 acre on-line impoundment, due to
the amount of nutrient and sediment entering the
lake from its upstream watershed. The sediment
and nutrients can cause adverse water quality
impacts within the stream, as well as in Wonder
Lake, and the Fox River / Chain O’Lakes into
which Nippersink Creek flows. |
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