Accomplishments in 2006

Prairie Rivers Network’s efforts are focused in three program areas: Clean Water, Habitat Protection, and River Stewardship and Awareness. Here are some of the highlights of our work:

Clean Water

  • Cracking Down on Polluters – To complement our program that ensures Clean Water Act permits strictly limit the pollutants that can be discharged to our rivers, we initiated a new effort to ensure that polluters be held to those limits and began cracking down on violators.

  • Cleaner, Safer Water for Fishing and Swimming – Challenging Illinois EPA’s practice of exempting wastewater discharges from disinfection, we eliminated this exemption at plants from Champaign and St. Joseph to Sandwich and Braidwood and got IEPA to admit the disinfection requirement should be regularly applied.

  • Mississippi River Clean Water Collaborative – We began a new effort with eleven other groups along the River to improve water quality throughout the river system and the Gulf of Mexico.

Habitat Protection

  • Mississippi River Habitat Restoration – We began a new effort to work with local citizen groups along the River to build support for projects that will restore wetlands, side channels and wildlife corridors.

  • Healthy Land – Healthy Water – We began an effort to ensure that farm conservation programs aimed at protecting habitat and water quality achieve their intended purpose.

River Stewardship and Awareness

  • Keeping on Cleaning Up – We helped organize the first annual Boneyard Clean-up in Champaign-Urbana, forging a new partnership with the cities, park districts, local Rotaries and businesses, the U of I and many others.

  • Cleaning and Conserving Rain Water – We initiated a program to install rain gardens at local Habitat for Humanity homes and are developing instructional materials for homeowners who want to use rain gardens to prevent polluted rain water from rushing down the nearest storm drain.

  • Illinois Stormwater Patrol – We continue training citizens to monitor stormwater runoff at construction sites and elsewhere, and to be on the lookout for pollution in their local streams.

Accomplishments: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2000