Water quality in the lower Illinois River Basin, Illinois, 1995-98

Groschen, George E.; Harris, Mitchell A.; King, Robin B.; Terrio, Paul J.; Warner, Kelly L.

doi:10.3133/cir1209

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Urban impacts on watershed hydrology are most likely different from the agricultural impacts discussed in this paper. Based on 1995 surface water use in the upper Illinois River Basin, daily withdrawals were approximately 2% of the mean annual flow (12,600 cfs) (Arnold et al, 1999;Groschen et al, 2000). Though historical and present water withdrawals are largely unknown, increased water use for industry, agriculture, and public drinking supply may offset some of the climate impacts of increased 25 precipitation.…”

Section: Illinois River Basin (Irb)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By 1915 the river was almost entirely lined by floodplain levees installed by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Illinois River has an extensive system of locks and dams to facilitate navigation, all seven of which were completed in the 1930's (Lian et al, 2012), and at least five of which regulate modern 30 river flows (Groschen et al, 2000). These river structures influence water storage, conveyance and evaporation within the Illinois River Valley, and thus the historical streamflow record.…”

Section: Illinois River Basin (Irb)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Illinois River Basin is part of the Till Plains and Great Lakes sections of the Central Lowlands physiographic province and is an exceptionally flat landscape with glacial features, such as Wisconsinan moraines, knob and kettles (typically less than 100 ft relief), and the Illinois River valley (100-400 ft relief) creating the only noteworthy topography 5 (Arnold et al, 1999;Groschen et al, 2000). IRB soils are dominated by mollisols, containing around 1% organic matter and generally of low to very low permeability, with some presence of more permeable alfisols and entisols (Arnold et al, 1999;Groschen et al, 2000).…”

Section: Illinois River Basin (Irb)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Human amplified changes in precipitation-runoff patterns in large river basins of the Midwestern United States

Kelly¹,

Takbiri²,

Belmont³

et al. 2016

Preprint

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Abstract. Complete transformations of land cover from prairie, wetlands, and hardwood forests to homogenous row crop agriculture scattered with urban centers are thought to have caused profound changes in hydrology in the Upper Midwestern US since the 1800s. Continued intensification of land use and drainage practices combined with increased precipitation have 10 caused many Midwest watersheds to exhibit higher streamflows today than in the historical past. While changes in crop type and farming practices have been well documented over the past few decades, changes in artificial surface (ditch) and subsurface (tile) drainage systems have not. This makes it difficult to quantitatively disentangle the effects of climate change and artificial drainage intensification on the observed hydrologic change, often spurring controversial interpretations with significant implications for management actions. In this study, we investigate four large (23,000-69,000 km 2 ) Midwest river 15 basins that span climate and land use gradients to understand how climate and agricultural drainage have influenced basin hydrology over the last 79 years. We use daily, monthly, and annual flow metrics to document streamflow changes and discuss those changes in the context of climate and land use change. While we detect similar timing of precipitation and streamflow changes in each basin, overall the magnitude and significance of precipitation changes are much less than we detect for streamflows. Of the basins containing greater than 20% area drained by tile and ditches, we observe 2 to 4 fold 20 increases in low flows and 1.5 to 3 fold increases in high and extreme flows. Monthly precipitation has increased slightly for some months in each basin, mostly in fall and winter months (August -March), but total monthly streamflow has increased in all months for the Minnesota River Basin (MRB), every month but April for the Red River Basin (RRB), SeptemberDecember and March in the Illinois River Basin (IRB), and no months in the Chippewa River basin (CRB). Using a water budget, we determined that the soil moisture/groundwater storage term for the intensively drained and cultivated MRB, IRB, 25and RRB, has decreased by about 200%, 100%, and 30%, respectively while increased by roughly 30% in the largely forested CRB since 1975. We argue that agricultural land use change, through wetland removal and artificial drainage installation, has decreased watershed storage and amplified the streamflow response to precipitation increases in the Midwest. Highly managed basins with large reservoirs and urban centers, such as the Illinois River basin (IRB), may be able to buffer some of these impacts better than largely unregulated systems such as the Minnesota River (MRB) and Red River 30

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Section: Illinois River Basin (Irb)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Illinois River Basin (Irb)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Illinois River Basin (Irb)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Human amplified changes in precipitation-runoff patterns in large river basins of the Midwestern United States

Kelly¹,

Takbiri²,

Belmont³

et al. 2016

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Soils in the Minnesota River basin consist of organic rich but poorly drained mollisols with a very small area consisting of alfisols and entisols (Stark et al, 1996). The Illinois River basin is generally dominated mollisols, containing around 1 % organic matter and generally of low to very low permeability, with some presence of more permeable alfisols and entisols (Arnold et al, 1999;Groschen et al, 2000). The dominant soil orders found in the Red River of the North basin include mollisols and alfisols with some areas underlain by entisols and histosols (Stoner et al, 1993).…”

Section: Study Areas: Large River Basins Of the Midwest With Varying mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We selected these basins for the following reasons: all are agricultural, to various degrees, primarily producing corn and soybeans; all are located mainly within the Central Lowland physiographic province and were affected by continental glaciation resulting in mostly flat, poorly drained uplands and incised river valleys (Arnold et al, 1999;Barnes, 1997;Belmont et al, 2011;Day et al, 2013;Gran et al, 2009;Groschen et al, 2000;Rosenberg et al, 2005;Stark et al, 1996); and all are characterized by a humid, temperate climate (Kottek et al, 2006 (Fig. 1).…”

Section: Study Areas: Large River Basins Of the Midwest With Varying mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human amplified changes in precipitation–runoff patterns in large river basins of the Midwestern United States

Kelly

Takbiri

Belmont

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Complete transformations of land cover from prairie, wetlands, and hardwood forests to row crop agriculture and urban centers are thought to have caused profound changes in hydrology in the Upper Midwestern US since the 1800s. In this study, we investigate four large (23 000-69 000 km 2 ) Midwest river basins that span climate and land use gradients to understand how climate and agricultural drainage have influenced basin hydrology over the last 79 years. We use daily, monthly, and annual flow metrics to document streamflow changes and discuss those changes in the context of precipitation and land use changes. Since 1935, flow, precipitation, artificial drainage extent, and corn and soybean acreage have increased across the region. In extensively drained basins, we observe 2 to 4 fold increases in low flows and 1.5 to 3 fold increases in high and extreme flows. Using a water budget, we determined that the storage term has decreased in intensively drained and cultivated basins by 30-200 % since 1975, but increased by roughly 30 % in the less agricultural basin. Storage has generally decreased during spring and summer months and increased during fall and winter months in all watersheds. Thus, the loss of storage and enhanced hydrologic connectivity and efficiency imparted by artificial agricultural drainage appear to have amplified the streamflow response to precipitation increases in the Midwest. Future increases in precipitation are likely to further intensify drainage practices and increase streamflows. Increased streamflow has implications for flood risk, channel adjustment, and sediment and nutrient transport and presents unique challenges for agriculture and water resource management in the Midwest. Better documentation of existing and future drain tile and ditch installation is needed to further understand the role of climate versus drainage across multiple spatial and temporal scales.

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Distribution and toxicity of sediment‐associated pesticides in urban and agricultural waterways from Illinois, USA

Ding

Harwood

Foslund

et al. 2009

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

116

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A statewide investigation of insecticide presence and sediment toxicity was conducted in Illinois, USA, from June to August 2008. Twenty sediment samples were collected from urban areas throughout Illinois, and 49 sediment samples were collected from 14 agriculture-dominated counties in central and southern Illinois. Ten-day sediment toxicity tests were conducted using the amphipod Hyalella azteca, and 59% of the urban sites and 2% of the agricultural locations sampled caused significant mortality in the amphipods. The field sediments were analyzed for 29 pesticides, including 19 organochlorines, one organophosphate, and nine pyrethroids. The detection frequencies of organochlorines, chlorpyrifos, and pyrethroids were 95, 65, and 95%, respectively, for urban sites, and 45, 6.1, and 47%, respectively, for agricultural sites. Based on toxic unit analysis, bifenthrin was the main contributor to the detected mortality in urban sediments. The present study provides the first broad assessment of pesticide prevalence in both urban and agriculture areas in Illinois.

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Water quality in the lower Illinois River Basin, Illinois, 1995-98

Cited by 17 publications

References 6 publications

Human amplified changes in precipitation-runoff patterns in large river basins of the Midwestern United States

Human amplified changes in precipitation-runoff patterns in large river basins of the Midwestern United States

Human amplified changes in precipitation–runoff patterns in large river basins of the Midwestern United States

Distribution and toxicity of sediment‐associated pesticides in urban and agricultural waterways from Illinois, USA

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