Ryan Announces DuPage River Restoration Grant

SPRINGFIELD -- Governor George H. Ryan today announced that a contract has been signed that will provide more than $900,000 in federal/local funding to implement a watershed restoration project on the East Branch of the DuPage River.

Under the contract between The Conservation Foundation, based in Naperville, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Foundation will receive $966,290 in federal funds, channeled through the IEPA for the project. The Foundation will provide a matching 40 percent share, or $644,193, to meet to total $1,610,483 cost.

Phase 1, the work covered by the contract, will feature creation of stormwater wetlands to divert and treat stormwater runoff before it enters the East Branch of the DuPage River; selection of best management practices to control urban runoff and improve water quality; conversion of an existing detention basin on an unnamed tributary to St. Joseph's Creek into a constructed wetland ; identification of best practices to stabilize approximately 3,480 feet of streambank along Willow Way Brook, approximately 1,200 feet along two segments of St. Joseph's Creek, and some 3,150 feet of eroding streambank along Lacy Creek.

The contracts cover efforts to begin next March, with work to be completed by Sept.1, 2001.

The Foundation will serve as the lead agency, working with the DuPage County Department of Environmental Concerns, the villages of Westmont and Downers Grove, the Westmont Park District, The Morton Arboretum, the Orchard Brook Homeowners Association and others.

The funding is part of the U.S. EPA section 319 financial assistance grant program. In Illinois, the 319 programs are administered through the Illinois EPA.