4
Responsibilities
Sidney Czynski, Jim Donndelinger & Brian Donahoe work collectively to gather water samples.
Brian Donahoe maintains data related to the project and monitors and maintains the main
weather station located on his private property. Jim Donndelinger assists with technical aspects
of the project as well as monitors and maintains a back-up rain-gauge alarm located on his
private property. All three individuals are responsible for quality control and quality assurance.
A5 Problem Definition and Background
Countryside Lake and its association members are generally located in Sections 28, 29, 34 and
35 in Fremont Township 44N, Range 10E. Countryside Lake, historically, has served as the
headwaters of Indian Creek in Lake County, Illinois. Water enters the lake through the Manning
Slough, is filtered through the 147 acres of Countryside Lake and then flows over the
Countryside Lake dam spillway to Indian Creek (waterbody ID # GU02) to the DesPlaines
River and then on to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. Homeowners around the
lake have noticed a dramatic change in water clarity and sedimentation in the last few years as
developments and impervious surfaces have increased around them. Since 2001 they have been
monitoring these changes and sharing them with local authorities such as Lake County
Stormwater Management Commission (SMC), Lake County Health Department, Lakes
Management Unit, (LCHD-LMU) the Indian Creek Watershed Project (ICWP), and the Army
Corps of Engineers. The information has been collected by a team of citizen scientist volunteers
who are members of the Lakes Improvement and Management Committee (LIM) of Countryside
Lake Association.
Countryside Lake Association (CLA) occupies approximately 800 acres in the Indian Creek
Watershed. The total watershed measures approximately 24,108 acres. The lake is a man-made
lake created for recreational use by a Chicago Industrialist in 1928. The greatest influence on the
lake, according to recent water quality testing is phosphorus. The suspected culprit from the
surrounding area is construction of new developments and limited protection of nearby water
resources within these new developments. Indian Creek is tributary to many of these new
developments and also the largest (highest volume) recharge inlet to the lake.
Water has been monitored and tested for the last 5 years by association volunteers. Initially
samples were collected by hand in 2002. For the last 3 years they have been collected using the
following tools: Davis Weather Monitor II, Solinst leveloggers and barologgers, ISCO sampling
units located at 5 lake inlets and at the outflow into Indian Creek. The samplers are triggered to
collect samples during rain events to generate representative storm water quality data on selected
parameters including sediment (TSS) and total phosphorous (TP) entering the lake from inlet
sources. These parameters were advised by LCHD-LMU which has identified phosphorous as
the limiting nutrient in the lake and also recognized that erosion sediments in storm water may
contribute to phosphorous levels. Bathymetric surveys, navigation draft and observed sediments
near some lake inlets have also indicated sediment transport to the lake. Samples are sent to a
professional lab, U.S. BioSystems for analysis. The results are reviewed, charted and
documented by CLA.
