areas, and develop scientific restoration and management methods 

 for existing areas. 



The impact of present and future waste loads on the river system 

 must be estimated so that a rational method of utilizing the waste as- 

 similative capacity of the river, without further degrading the river 

 can be developed. The relative impact on aquatic life of pollutants 

 from both nonpoint and point sources needs to be assessed, so that 

 pollution abatement measures can be directed, on a priority basis, 

 toward those pollutants which are actually doing the most damage to the 

 Illinois River system. Such a priority system would assure the greatest 

 tangible return possible, in terms of improved fishery and wildlife 

 values, per dollar spent on pollution control. 

 Coordinate management for multiple use 



Once the capability is developed for assessing and predicting the 

 impacts of man's activities on the Illinois River system, it will be 

 possible to manage the system in a more coordinated fashion than now 

 occurs. For example, it is possible at present for one arm of the 

 Federal Government and for State governments to spend resources in im- 

 proving and restoring refuge areas while another arm of Government en- 

 gages in practices which degrade such areas. There is little point in 

 the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago and other munic- 

 ipalities and industries expending millions of dollars in improved 

 waste treatment if the river and its bottomland lakes are degraded 

 largely by sediment from nonpoint sources. 



The river and its bottomland lakes, backwaters, marshes, and 

 tributaries need to be managed as a system rather than piecemeal. The 

 river system has been managed as a series of arbitrary administrative 

 and jurisdictional units. Upstream users of the entire river's as- 

 similative capacity, such as the Metropolitan Sanitary District of 

 Greater Chicago (MSDGC) are responsible only for impacts which occur 

 within their jurisdiction. Agencies develop plans independently of 

 each other, although it is clear that their activities will interact 

 and perhaps conflict. For example, it is possible that the proposed 



