At the same time crews are removing the Carpentersville dam, drought conditions are affecting the Fox River in northern Kane County, and both are causing water levels in the area to be very low, officials said.
“Currently our area is in an extreme drought, and water levels are below normal, even for this time of year,” said Jennifer Rooks-Lopez, director of planning and land protection for the Forest Preserve District of Kane County.
Water flow before and after dam removal is expected to normally be about 1,000 cubic feet per second in the part of the river in Carpentersville, Rooks-Lopez said. When conditions are dry, it typically drops to about 500 cubic feet per second, she said.
These days, however, the levels are below 300 cubic feet per second, she said.
“This is the lowest I’ve seen the river,” said Carpentersville Village President John Skilman, who has lived in the village most of his life. “It’s been so dry. Pretty much since August, it’s been so dry.”
Skillman said he thought the river would drop as the dam was being removed, but this is far lower than he anticipated.
“It could be a combination of the drought and the dam being removed,” he said. “Let’s wait and see if this works like they told us it would. They’re the professionals.”
Levels are lower downstream from the dam as well, but not as dramatically, Skillman said. It’s particularly noticeable near Otto Engineering and the Main Street bridge in Carpentersville, he said, and south of there between East and West Dundee, where ducks and geese can be seen standing in the middle of the river.
North of the dam, the eastern riverbank has receded at the Fox River Shores Forest Preserve in Carpentersville, at the Buffalo Park Forest Preserve along the river’s west bank in Algonquin and about three-quarters of a mile downstream from the Algonquin dam.
“This is not expected to be the new normal condition,” Rooks-Lopez said.
She noted, too, that the weather has been odd this year. Rain made the river so high in July that boating had to be stopped but from August through now, there’s been so little precipitation that the river looks dramatically low, she said.
August through October is typically when the river is at its shallowest, which is why the forest preserve district chose fall to start the dam removal work.
In the works for nearly a decade, the $1.4 million project began in mid-September. Tearing out the structure, which was maintained and owned by the district, is on schedule to be completed by the end of October, Rooks-Lopez said.
“Our goal is to be out of the river before winter drawdown begins at Stratton Lock and Dam (in McHenry) on Nov. 1,” she said.
That’s when water is released from the Chain O’ Lakes into the Fox to ready the lakes for winter, Rooks-Lopez said. That annual occurrence should bring more flow and depth back to the river, at least temporarily, she said.
While removing the dam, crews found it wasn’t made of solid concrete but consisted of river boulders held together by wooden cribbing covered in concrete. The district is looking for ways it can use the boulders for new purposes, Rooks-Lopez said.
Cleanup at the site should be done before Thanksgiving, she added. The gazebo that overlooks the river where the dam was will remain, she said, and the district will redo a boat ramp at Fox River Shores so it can be used with the anticipated new river flow once the dam is gone.
In Elgin, Mayor Dave Kaptain said the river is lower than normal as well, but it remains deep enough that it’s not a threat to the city’s water supply. Elgin gets most of its water from the Fox River.
Elgin Water Director Nora Bertram said water levels have remained consistent throughout the year and over the last three months, with no increase or decrease in levels.
“We have not encountered any significant issues with treatment or supply, and we have successfully met demand. From an operational standpoint, there has been no notable impact on the quality of our output,” Betram said. “The raw water remains consistent with the levels observed before the (Carpentersville) dam removal project began.”
The Army Corps of Engineers has recommended that the dam at Kimball Street in Elgin be removed but city officials remain undecided on whether they want to proceed given the effect it could have on water levels and flow and other factors. The Corps is looking at the ramifications of pulling the structure out as is the city.
The Carpentersville dam removal will provide Elgin an opportunity to observe and learn from the results there, Kaptain said.
“We’re waiting to see what it’s ultimately going to look like,” he said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
