.U8 



Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 



Vol. 28. Art. 2 



lution still existed, and very few fishes 

 were found there b\- Thoinpson 5c Hunt 

 when the\ made their collections in U^28. 

 iniprovenients in the efficiency of the san- 

 itary system were made at freijuent inter- 

 vals between 102S and l')5^), and at pres- 

 ent most of the L hampaiijn and Urhana 

 wastes are j^iven complete treatment. In 

 recent years, Rantoiil, Gibson Cit>', and 

 the Chanute .Air Force Hase have in- 

 stalled sewaLie treatment plants. 



Althou)j;h. in the past 60 years, Cham- 

 paijj;n Countx' has lost such sources of 

 pollutants as the earl\ ^as plants and 

 stables, and has improved the sewer sys- 

 tems and the treatment of human waste, 

 it still has to contend with domestic sew- 

 ajje from outlets illej^ally connected to 

 storm sewers; chemicals that pass un- 

 chanjied throuj^h the treatment plant; oils 

 that wash from roads and machinery ; 

 wastes from canninji plants, milk plants, 

 and soybean mills; modified water tem- 

 peratures; and aij;ricultural chemicals, 

 such as modern herbicides and insecti- 

 cides. It has the University of Illinois 

 chemical laboratories, the Chanute Air 

 Force Base machinery, and an ever-in- 

 creasing number of industries. 



Alonji with these pollutants, there is 

 the growinji problem of an increasing vol- 

 ume of efHuents, which may be detri- 

 mental to aquatic life, no matter how well 

 they have been treated. The Champaign- 

 Urbana community and the West Branch 

 provide a good example. In October, 1917, 

 a total How of 3,U0U,000 gallons per day 

 was reported for the Salt Fork below the 

 disposal plant (Baker 1922:171). About 

 half of this volume (1,500,000 gallons 

 per day) was from the sanitary treatment 

 plant. The natural stream flow was low 

 when the measurement was made and is 

 comparable to that during the low water 

 period of September, 1959, when we 

 studied the West Branch. 



In September, 1959, the total volume 

 of sewage going through the plant was 

 7,276,000 gallons per day, nearly five 

 times the volume cited by Baker for 1917. 

 (This and similar 1959 figures are from a 

 monthly report of the Urbana-Champaign 

 Sanitar_\' District.) If the natural volume 

 of the flow in the West Branch has not 

 changed over these years, and the sewage 

 effluent has increased nearly five-fold, the 



West Branch below the disposal plant 

 must be nearl\' three times as large as it 

 was in 1917. 'Fhe total flow has changed 

 from one-half effluent in 1917 to four- 

 fifths effluent in 1959. In September, 1959, 

 this eftluent had a biochemical ox\gen de- 

 mand of 9 p. p.m., which would quickly 

 reduce the oxygen in the natural stream 

 water with which it was mixed ; natural 

 agitation of the flowing waters would, of 

 course, partially replace the dissolved ox- 

 ygen used up by the effluent material. In 

 spite of the present high level of efficiency 

 for the treatment plant, which produces 

 an effluent that is as nearly perfect as 

 sanitary engineers consider practical, the 

 stream remains unfit for most aquatic life. 

 The problem centers on the great volume 

 of effluent that is produced and on the 

 accumulation of chemical agents that pre- 

 clude existence of clean-water organisms. 



Areas of Chronic Pollution 



Seven principal areas of chronic pollu- 

 tion, fig. 14, affect the distribution of 

 Champaign County fishes, figs. 15-70. 



The Boneyard. — Because of its loca- 

 tion in the center of Champaign-Urbana, 

 fig. 14, the Boneyard receives quantities 

 of varied pollutants. Although Forbes & 

 Richardson collected Johnny darters from 

 the stream, some pollution probably existed 

 then. According to Baker ( 1922 : 1 72) , at 

 the time of his study the Bone>ard was 

 receiving domestic pollutants as well as 

 oil and tar from the gas works; pollution 

 was extremely severe in 1915. Thompson 

 (Sc Hunt stated that the Boneyard con- 

 tained no permanent fish population in 

 1928, although at that time, as well as in 

 1959, some fishes occasionally moved into 

 polluted areas during high water and re- 

 mained for short periods. 



In 1958, black bullheads taken from the 

 Market Street gutters during a period of 

 high water were collected by several peo- 

 ple and identified by Dr. Marcus S. Gold- 

 man. Apparently the fish had moved up 

 the Boneyard, through the storm sewers, 

 and out through the street drains. Except 

 for similar brief ingressions, no fish occur 

 at the present time in the Boneyard. It 

 remains badly polluted by waste from im- 

 properly connected household drains and 

 from businesses discharging directly into 

 the ditch or into storm drains. 



