Preliminary Evaluation of the Risk of Accidental Spills of Hazardous Materials in Illinois Waterways

HWRIC Project 89/90-059NTIS PB91-20877

Watershed monitoring for the Lake Decatur watershed: 1996-1997

"Prepared for the City of Decatur.

Rubric-referenced assessment in teacher preparation: An opportunity to learn by using

In Andrade and Du (2005), the authors discuss the ways in which students perceive and use rubrics to support learning in the classroom. In an effort to further examine the impact of rubrics on student learning, this study explored how rubrics impacted students learning, as well as whether using rubrics influenced the likelihood that they would use rubrics in the future as teachers. In this study, 45 undergraduate students enrolled in educational psychology were provided rubrics for each of the two writing assignments assigned during the semester. At the end of the semester, students were asked about their use of rubrics as well as the relationship between rubrics and performance. Student perceptions of rubric importance in learning underscored the findings in the earlier study (Andrade & Du, 2005), but also highlighted the importance of using rubrics as preservice teachers. Responses indicated that preservice teachers who used rubrics as students may be more likely to use rubrics in their own teaching. Accessed 15,099 times on https://pareonline.net from May 12, 2010 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Watershed monitoring for the Lake Decatur watershed

"Prepared for the City of Decatur"--Cover

Watershed monitoring for the Lake Decatur watershed: 1997-1998

Includes bibliographical references (p. 27)."Prepared for the city of Decatur.

Hydrologic and Nutrient Monitoring of the Lake Decatur Watershed: Final Report 1993-2008

Lake Decatur is the water supply reservoir for the City of Decatur. The reservoir was created in 1922 by constructing a dam to impound the flow of the Sangamon River. The dam was modified in 1956 to increase the maximum capacity of the lake to 28,000 acre-feet. The lake receives water from the 925-square-mile watershed of the Upper Sangamon River which includes portions of seven counties in east-central Illinois. Lake Decatur has high nitrate-N concentrations which have been consistently exceeding the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) drinking water standard of 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L) since 1980. This has created a serious situation for the drinking water supply of the City of Decatur, since nitratenitrogen (N) cannot be removed from finished drinking water through regular water purification processes. Since 1993, the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) has been monitoring the Lake Decatur watershed for trends in discharge, nitrate-N concentration, and nitrate-N yield and to identify any significant changes in the watershed. The purpose of the monitoring was to collect reliable scientific data throughout the watershed for use by city planners and resource managers to develop watershed management alternatives based on scientific data. The ISWS originally established eight monitoring stations in the Upper Sangamon River watershed. Three of those stations have been in continuous operation from May 1993 to April 2008. A companion study funded by the Agricultural Watershed Institute allowed for continued monitoring at those three stations from May 2008 through September 2008. The purpose of this report is to document and present the discharge, nitrate-N concentration, and nitrate-N yield data for the 15 water years of monitoring (October 1993–September 2008), as well as to determine any annual trends in the Lake Decatur watershed. The intended purpose of the monitoring data and trends investigation results is to assist the City of Decatur planners and resource managers in developing watershed management alternatives to manage the current and future city water supply. In summary, eight of the 15 water years experienced above or extremely above normal precipitation. Based on the 100-year streamflow record at the Monticello station, 4 of the top 11 total annual discharges occurred during the monitoring period (Water Year (WY) 1993 - 2nd, WY2008 - 3rd, WY1994 - 10th, and WY1998 - 11th), whereas WY2000 had the fourth lowest annual discharge. The 15-year mean annual nitrate-N yield delivered to Lake Decatur from the Upper Sangamon River watershed was 23 lb/acre and varied from 6 lb/acre (WY2000) to 42 lb/acre (WY2008). During the 15-year monitoring period, there were no significant trends in discharge and nitrate-N yields for the Long Creek (101), Friends Creek (102), and Monticello (111) stations in the Lake Decatur watershed. Annual average nitrate-N concentration for the Monticello (111) station had a statistically significant increasing trend with an increase of 0.087 mg/L per year based on the statistical fit of the annual average data. This dataset was augmented by a longer data record (WY1975–2006) from the downstream gaging station near Oakford to investigate longer-term trends in the Sangamon River watershed. There were no trends detected for nitrate-N concentration or yield within the 32-year record from the Oakford gage.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

The role of wetlands in stormwater runoff for the Flint and Mutton Creek watersheds, Lake County, Illinois

"November 1993.""Prepared for the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission.""Office of Sediment & Wetland Studies.

Multi-Scale Geomorphic Assessment Approach for Streams in the Southern Illinois Region: Case Study, Big Creek Watershed, Pulaski and Union Counties, Illinois

Human alteration of stream channels and land use initiates responses in a fluvial system that can increase flooding, erosion, and sedimentation, which, in turn, impact aquatic habitat, property, and water quality. Geomorphic assessment approaches have been developed to evaluate channel response to disturbances for various regions of the United States and there is concern regarding the appropriateness of applying them in regions for which they were not developed, particularly Illinois. Channel responses to disturbances tend to be more subtle in Illinois as compared to the dramatic responses in the mountainous northwest, arid southwest, and coastal plains. Also, channel disturbance issues are complex and dynamic, consequently the evaluation of these issues requires extensive training and formal research experience. Due to pressure by policy makers and resource managers for rapid assessments and natural channel designs for stream restorations, some assessment approaches have been developed and applied by non-geomorphologists and extended beyond credible use. Lack of standardization between approaches has proven difficult to compare disturbance response mechanisms within and between physiographic regions, as well as establishing long-term research of these mechanisms. A standardized, systematic geomorphic assessment approach for evaluating past conditions, extant character, and potential future adjustments of stream channels in Illinois was developed and evaluated. The methodology draws from components of approaches developed in the United States. The approach was applied to the Big Creek watershed in the Cache River Basin in the southern region of Illinois – a fluvial system that has been severely impacted both directly and indirectly by human activities. The geomorphic assessment approach has three levels of investigation that incorporates temporal- and spatial-scale analysis, standardizes the systematic collection of data, compares and contrasts multiple lines of evidence to characterize the watershed and channels, and utilizes three approaches to evaluate prevailing channel process response mechanisms to infer potential future channel adjustments. Several components overcame inconsistent datasets found in Big Creek and integrated multi-scale information to infer future several channel adjustment processes. The results for the case study watershed, Big Creek, revealed that the complex geology and multiple human disturbances has produced four separate channel responses that will require separate, but integrated, attention of the watershed and channel reaches.Ope

Dynamic modeling and monitoring of water, sediment, nutrients, and pesticides in agricultural watersheds during storm events

"September 1999.""Prepared for the Illinois Groundwater Consortium, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.""Subcontract numbers 97-03 & 98-06, Project numbers 1-5-28718 & 1-5-28923.""Contract report 655"--Cover

Watershed monitoring for the Lake Decatur watershed: 2000-2003

"Prepared for City of Decatur.""December 2005."Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-53)