Water Chemistry

Illinois State University

The success of our projects in improving the health of urbanized waterways begins with studying the most direct mechanisms by which the environment is changed by our interventions. In the Chicago River, we’re interested in a number of chemicals, such as heavy metals, nutrients, and chloride, oxygen, chlorophyll, and others. Since 2018, Urban Rivers has worked with the lab of Dr. Eric Peterson from the geology department of Illinois State University to assess the presence of these chemicals in our waterway.

Studying the hydrology and nutrient cycling of streams and rivers throughout Illinois, Dr. Peterson’s support for our water chemistry research has been key, and led to publication of a paper in the journal Hydrology in 2021 that demonstrates the uptake of phosphorous and nitrogen as water filters through the root systems of the floating wetlands. Promising results included lower concentrations of phosphate and nitrate-as-nitrogen downstream versus upstream of our artificial floating wetlands, indicating potential uptake of these nutrients by the wetland plants. Other co-authors Emmett and Abigail, former graduate students in the Peterson lab, focused on heavy metals and nutrients respectively, and their work has been critical in evaluating the ability of floating wetlands to mitigate pollutants.

Future research planned with Illinois State includes multidisciplinary work tying water chemistry improvements to community wellbeing, and to study how river-based green spaces may impact gentrifying areas of the city. Our River Ranger volunteers also continue to gather water samples from the Wild Mile on a weekly basis, and an eventual analysis of these samples for key chemicals will help us paint a broader picture of the impact of the installation on water chemistry in the area.