Water Quality
Water quality affects everyone, yet our water resources can be impaired by contamination and runoff due to industry, a heavy population density, and a myriad of land and water uses. At stake are safe drinking water, clean beaches, and uncontaminated aquatic ecosystems. With many threats to water quality, IISG tackles the issue from a variety of fronts. Through pollution prevention programs, land use planning resources, restoration workshops, and the latest research results and monitoring data, IISG reaches out to audiences that can make a difference in protecting or restoring water quality.
News
- IISG Wins Water Resource Education and Public Service Award
- The HELM: Flood Potential in Chicago Region is Higher than Expected
- The HELM: Disinfecting Drinking Water Can Create Toxic By-Products
- The HELM: SOLEC Provides the Latest Great Lakes Health Report
Initiatives
River Restoration: Practices and Concepts
This workshop series brings together experts from around the United States and Canada to discuss the successes and failures of current river restoration technologies.
Local Decision Maker
This web-based GIS decision system is designed to improve comprehensive land use planning so that economic, ecological, social, and cultural resources are integrated with future development in a sustainable way.
Planning with POWER
The project is designed to empower communities to prevent and solve natural resource problems resulting from changing land use in growing watersheds and to empower local officials to incorporate watershed protection measures into comprehensive land use plans.
Safe Disposal of Unwanted Medicine
This resource provides everything a community needs to know to start an unwanted medicine collection program, which prevents these drugs from being flushed into local waters.
SOLEC
The State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conferences and State of the Great Lakes reports are produced by the U. S. EPA and Environment Canada to provide independent, science-based reporting on the state of the health of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem.
Research Projects
How do Plant Species Invasions Affect Water Quality Services Performed by Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands?
Nancy Tuchman, Loyola University
Real-time Fluorometric Assay for Sewage Presence: A Cost-effective Method to Determine Potential Water Quality Threats to Swimmers and Ecosystem Health
Kishanipuram Vinodgopal, Indiana University Northwest
Products
Beach Watch Series
Water Issues and Concerns Fact Sheet Series
Planning with POWER Publications
Protecting Our Water and Environmental Resources
Nonpoint Source Pollution: A Threat to Our Waters
Impacts of Development on Waterways
Strategies to Minimize Polluted Runoff
How to Get Started: Protecting Your Community from Polluted Runoff
The Relationship Between Land Use Decisions and the Impacts on Our Water and Natural Resources
Brownfields: A Rural Community Problem
Stormwater Runoff
Stormwater and Non-Point Source Pollution
Open Space Planning
Web Links
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes National Program Office
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
Lake Guardian Blog
