The city and county have come together to keep the Kishwaukee River watershed clean and safe from pollution.

A watershed is an area of land where surrounding bodies of water go into the same place. The Kishwaukee River Watershed is a 779,747-acre watershed in northern Illinois, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The state graded Kishwaukee River as a Class A river, which means it is still healthy. But, “the Kishwaukee and its tributaries are threatened because construction and agricultural activities do not adequately control pollution or flooding,” according to an executive summary from Preserving the Kishwaukee Watershed.

On Nov. 24, a plan was presented to City Council that proposes including the East Branch of the South Branch of the Kishwaukee River Watershed in the city’s Stormwater Management Plan, which manages development of flooding and stormwater drainage in DeKalb County.

“It is a very important plan because it takes the surface water into the watershed that services neighboring communities and areas to the east of DeKalb,” said Mayor John Rey. “So, we want to be sure that we are doing our part in not adding containments or pollution to the watershed, that we’re taking a responsible position in preserving the quality of water in that watershed.”

DeKalb County created the Kishwaukee River Watershed Plan to keep the portion of the watershed within its borders clean. This protective plan would include a small part of the river found in the northeastern corner of DeKalb and does not have much impact on the city itself, said 2nd ward Alderman Bill Finucane.

“… Having been on the Environmental Commission, we definitely like to keep the waterways as clean as possible. And what the plan looks to do is to, through some regulation, some plantings … both regulations and plantings are all going to be voluntary at this point,” Finucane said. “It will help to keep some of the dirt and silt out of the river, and then also some of the plantings will help absorb, say, some of the farm chemicals before they get into the water also.”

Paul Stoddard, DeKalb County Board District 9 member and plate tectonics, geodynamics and planetary geology professor, said the pollution of the Kishwaukee River would affect the health of the entire watershed.

Stoddard said because people dredge and dump pollutants into the streams there needs to be some sort of management program where the community tries to get everybody who’s involved to work together to maintain a quality system.

The watershed plan would affect farmers, residents and businesses or corporations in that it will attempt to control what goes into the streams that lead to the watershed, Stoddard said.

The Kishwaukee River Watershed Plan is “a very nice model on how to manage something that falls into so many different areas,” Stoddard said. “I mean, we’ve got members of the agricultural community, members of the commercial community, government officials, residents all working together. So, it’s a cooperative effort, which is a very good way of going about doing things.”