Levings Park Project Updates 

December 8, 2020 UPDATE:

Thank you for your continued attention and previous comments regarding South Fork Kent Creek and the draft watershed plan. We have incorporated all comments received so far, and we ask that you take another opportunity to review the document, either for the first time or to make sure that we have included your previous feedback. Please provide comments to Rebecca Olson at rebecca@olsonecosolutions.com or 815-985-2689 by Monday, December 28th. We will continue to update these documents until we submit them to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency by December 31st.

Major changes made since the August draft include:

Chapter 1: Concerns, Visions, and Goals

  • This chapter now contains a problem statement per request of the IEPA.

  • The target for total suspended solids (TSS) has been split into targets for TSS and sediment at the request of the IEPA. Sediment comes from streambank erosion and TSS comes from runoff from surrounding land uses.

Chapter 2: Recommended Projects and Practices

  • Practices are categorized as preventative, restoration, or remedial.

  • Some information is more succinct. 

Chapter 3: Outreach and Education

  • The chapter refers to outreach instead of just education.

  • A new section explains expected outcomes and behavioral changes, per request of IEPA.

  • The flow of the chapter groups each set of activities by stakeholder group (residential, agricultural, and commercial/industrial).

  • We added links to some of our favorite educational materials that could be used with outreach efforts.

  • The chapter is a little more succinct.

  • Educational fliers for use with outreach efforts now appear at end of the plan as exhibits.These fliers will be fine-tuned for the final version of the plan.

Chapter 4: Implementation of Watershed-Wide Practices

  • Pollutant reductions are now expressed in units (pounds, tons, or counts), not just percentages.

  • Priorities within environmentally sensitive areas and within various land uses treated by best management practices are clarified.

  • For the final version of the plan, this chapter will continue to highlight the priority areas, while the watershed-wide practices may be combined with the site-specific practices in a separate chapter.

Chapter 5: Implementation of Site-Specific Projects

  • We provided an example of the benefits and costs associated with one site-specific best management practice, at the request of IEPA.

  • We plan to provide a similar breakdown of benefits and costs for each site-specific best management practice and add a summary table at the end reflecting the culminating benefits of implementing all site-specific best management practices. This will take more time and appear in the final version of the plan.

Chapter 6: Financial and Technical Resources

  • There are no changes compared to the August draft.

  • Additional funding resources will be added to the final version of the plan.

Chapter 7: Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy

  • There are no changes compared to the August draft.

  • Recommended water sampling locations will either appear in the final version of this plan or while monitoring is being implemented.

Thank you again for using your time and local knowledge to improve our community's watershed plan.