What Is?

The Buckbee Creek Watershed is located in the central part of Winnebago County, Illinois and ultimately drains into the Upper Rock River. The watershed is approximately 5,450 acres and is situated in the City of Rockford an unincorporated Winnebago County. Buckbee Creek Watershed, itself, is approximately 4.2 miles in length and is primarily a concrete channel. At this time, there is little quantitative water quality or flow data available for Buckbee Creek that indicate water quality impairments for nutrients, total suspended solids and other parameters. However, in the segment of the Rock River at the confluence of the Buckbee Creek is listed on the 2008 IEPA 303(d) as having the following uses listed as impaired: aquatic life, fish consumption and primary recreation. Based on preliminary loading calculations, Buckbee Creek contributes over 8,000,000 pounds of suspended solids and over 4,000 pounds of total phosphorus to the Rock River annually. The stream is also a major source of heavy metals and organic pollutants from untreated urban runoff.

Storm water is rain or melted snow that falls on lawns, streets, roofs, and other surfaces. It is different from sanitary sewage that drains from your sinks, showers, and toilets.

When it rains, water probably leaves your yard through eave spouts or by running off the lawn and driveway. The flowing water picks up fertilizers, pesticides, animal waste, and other contaminants and flows off of your grass, onto the sidewalk, and into the street. The polluted water may flow into a storm drain by the streets curb and disappear from sight.

You might think that storm water, like sanitary sewage, is cleaned after it is out of sight. Those chemicals from your neighbor's lawn are probably filtered out before the storm water reaches the Kishwaukee River, or all of that storm water must be carried in pipes through tanks and filters to remove contaminants. After all, we want to boat, swim, and fish in clean creeks and streams that smell nice and look clear, right?

Here's the thing: storm water that leaves your yard, gutters in your neighborhood, farm fields, and city streets is not treated before it gets to the river. It might enter a storm drain that directly empties into a creek. It might enter a storm drain that empties into a ravine, where the water washes down the ravine faster and faster and collects soil from the ravine's sides until it eventually joins a larger creek that reaches the river. It might flow over land or through drainage channels into another water body. Whatever happens, all of that storm water drains into our rivers.

This water can carry chemicals, animal waste, litter, and other pollutants into the river. It also carries sediment, or dirt, which causes other problems. Sediment creates polluted, murky water that suffocates fish and prevents sunlight from reaching aquatic plants. These plants are a necessary start to the food chain in the river, so if they can't grow, fish, birds, and other animals have a harder time finding food. Extra sediment that enters the river partially fills the navigable channels of the river.

Glossary

B

Bedload
particles of sand, gravel, or soil that roll, bounce, or are pushed along the bottom of the streambed by the natural flow of a stream. These particles usually move much more slowly than the river moves. Bedload is also known as bottom load.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Best Management Practices (BMPs)
The EPA defines BMPs as methods, measures, or practices that are determined to be reasonable and cost-effective means for a land owner to meet certain, generally nonpoint source, pollution control needs. BMPs include structural and nonstructural controls and operation and maintenance procedures.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

C

Channelization
the straightening and deepening of streams so water will move faster. Channelization can be caused by erosion or by people intentionally straightening a stream or river.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Confluence
the act of two streams flowing together or the place where they meet.
Source: Merriam-Webster

D

Detention Basin
a type of best management practice that is installed near a river or stream to protect against flooding by storing excess water for a limited time.
Source: Wikipedia

Developer
who builds on or alters the physical make-up of land or an existing building.
Source: Wikipedia

Downcutting
also called downward erosion, downcutting is a process that deepens the channel of a stream or valley by removing material from the stream?s bed or the valley's floor.
Source: Wikipedia

Downstream
away from the source of a stream or river, or moving with the normal flow of water.

Dry dam
a structure created to decrease stormwater runoff during peak flow periods such as severe rainstorms. Dry dams are typically built along roads and allow for the water to flow freely under normal conditions. They hold back and release excess water at a controlled rate during flood conditions.
Source: Wikipedia

Drywell
an underground structure that disposes of storm water runoff by dissipating it into the ground where it merges with local groundwater. Dry wells are intended to reduce storm water runoff from impervious surfaces such as roofs.
Source: Mississippi State University College of Agriculture and Life Science

E

Ephemeral gullies
shallow ditches or channels that occur on farmland when smaller channels (rills) join to create a more concentrated water flow. They can be crossed by farm equipment and can be filled with normal tillage operations. Ephemeral gullies do not tend to be deep, but they may be broad and often reappear year after year, gradually causing significant erosion.
Source: University of Illinois Extension

Erosion
the wearing away of land surface by wind or water. Erosion is intensified by land-clearing practices related to farming, residential or industrial development, road building, or logging.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

G

Grassed waterway
according to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, a grassed waterway is a broad, shallow, saucer-shaped channel designed to move surface water across farmland without causing soil erosion. The vegetation in the waterway slows the water flow and protects the channel surface from rill and gully erosion.
Source: Ontario Ministry of Agriculture

Gully erosion
according to the EPA, gully erosion is severe erosion in which trenches formed by stormwater runoff are cut deeper than one foot. This type of erosion is very noticeable because of the steep walls that result.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

H

Headwater(s)
1. All of the water upstream from a point on a stream. 2. The small streams that come together to form a river.
Source: USGS

Home ruled districts
according to the NIU Center for Governmental Studies, an Illinois home rule district is a county or municipality which has a broader range of powers granted to it by the state than a non-home rule district. This system began with the adoption of the 1970 State Constitution.
Source: NIU Center for Governmental Studies

Hydrology
The science dealing with the properties, distribution and circulation of water.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

I

IDNR
Illinois Department of Natural Resources

IEPA
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Impervious surface
a hard surface (such as concrete or a rooftop) that does not absorb stormwater. When a surface cannot absorb water or any pollutants in the water, more stormwater and pollutants eventually enter a stream or river (because they cannot be filtered out), and stormwater flows faster, which can cause more erosion.
Source: Town of Chapel Hill Stormwater Management FAQ

Incised channel
a stream or river which is characterized by its high streambanks. Incised channels often are created by a high rate of streambank erosion and by a lack of vegetation, which leaves the ground more exposed and likely to erode.
Source: WildLandHydrology.com

Infiltration
The penetration of water through the ground surface into sub-surface soil, or when ground ?soaks up? water.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

INHS
Illinois Natural History Survey

ISGS
Illinois State Geological Survey

ISWS
Illinois State Water Survey

L

Low-impact development (LID)
The Low Impact Development Center defines LID as a comprehensive planning and engineering approach with a goal of maintaining and enhancing the pre-development hydrological system of how and where water flows. This approach allows development to occur while still protecting the area?s environment.
Source: LowImpactDevelopment.org

N

Non-point source (NPS) pollution
pollution discharged over a wide land area, not from one specific location. Non-point source pollution occurs when sediment, nutrients, organic and toxic substances are carried to lakes and streams by surface runoff. Non-point source pollution is contamination that occurs when rainwater, snowmelt, or irrigation washes off plowed fields, city streets, or suburban backyards. As this runoff moves across the land surface, it picks up soil particles and pollutants, such as nutrients and pesticides.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey

P

Percolation
downward seepage of water through soil or some other filter.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Pervious pavement
pavement designed to allow percolation or infiltration of stormwater through the surface into the soil below.
Source: Lake Superior Streams

Point source pollution
defined by the EPA as pollutant loads discharged at a specific location (such as a pipe) from municipal wastewater treatment plants or industrial waste treatment facilities. Point sources can also include pollution from tributaries into the main receiving stream or river.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

R

Rain barrels
a best management practice that is set up to collect storm water from rooftops. The stored water can then be used to water gardens and lawns.
Source: Rain Barrel Guide

Rain gardens
The EPA defines this best management practice as a garden set up to receive runoff from impervious surfaces such as roofs and driveways. The garden holds water so that it can be taken in by plants and soak into the ground instead of flowing down a storm drain.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Retention basin
sometimes called a wet detention basin, these basins are a type of best management practice that are used to manage stormwater runoff and prevent flooding and downstream erosion by holding water and allowing it to evaporate or be absorbed into the ground.
Source: Wikipedia

Riffle
the EPA defines a riffle as a rocky shoal or sand bar located just below the surface of the water. It is generally a shallow area of a river or stream in which the water velocity quickens. Riffles can form an important habitat for small aquatic species.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Rill erosion
(see Sheet Erosion)

Riparian habitat
Areas adjacent to rivers and streams with a differing density, diversity, and productivity of plant and animal species relative to nearby uplands.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

S

Sediment
usually applied to material in suspension in water or recently deposited from suspension. In the plural the word is applied to all kinds of deposits from the waters of streams, lakes, or seas.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey

Sheet/rill erosion
the uniform removal of soil in thin layers by rainfall and storm water runoff.
Source: The National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory

Storm sewer
a sewer that carries only surface runoff, street wash, and snow melt from the land. In a separate sewer system, storm sewers are completely separate from those that carry domestic and commercial wastewater (sanitary sewers).
Source: U.S. Geological Survey

Stream
a general term for a body of flowing water; natural water course containing water at least part of the year. In hydrology, it is generally applied to the water flowing in a natural channel as distinct from a canal.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey

Streambank erosion
a natural process which carries some soil along with the waterflow of streams. Natural erosion can be a beneficial process, but when it is accelerated by human activities it is often harmful to the environment.
Source: San Mateo Countywide Stormwater Pollution Program

Streambed
the channel through which a natural stream of water runs or used to run.

Surface water
water that is on the Earth's surface, such as in a stream, river, lake, or reservoir.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey

T

TAC
Technical Advisory Committee, made up of engineering, natural resource, education, and conservation representatives. A TAC and a Planning Committee created the Ackerman Creek Watershed Plan. Click here for a list of committee members.

Total maximum daily load (TMDL)
a calculation of the highest amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive while still meeting local water quality standards.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Tributary
a smaller river or stream that flows into a larger river or stream. Usually, a number of smaller tributaries merge to form a river.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey

Turbidity
the amount of solid particles that are suspended in water and that cause light rays shining through the water to scatter. Turbidity makes the water cloudy or even opaque in extreme cases.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey

U

USDA/NRCS
United States Department of Agriculture/Natural Resource Conservation Service

W

Watershed
the land area that drains water to a particular stream, river, or lake. It is a land feature that can be identified by tracing a line along the highest elevations between two areas on a map, often a ridge. Large watersheds, like the Illinois River basin, contain thousands of smaller watersheds.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey