The DuPage River Coalition got involved with watershed planning in 1996, working with Illinois EPA and the Natural Resource Conservation Service to develop one of the first watershed plans in the region in 1998. The idea at that time was that the document would be revisited and revised on a regular basis. This has been a constantly growing and evolving field, we have learned so much over the last 10 years and we are using that knowledge to move forward and create a forum that can help address the multi-faceted issues of a complex watershed.

We have not been the only ones assimilating these ideas. USEPA has incorporated the watershed-based approach into many of its major programs, in particular are regulations regarding eligibility for certain types of Clean Water Act, Section 319 funding. The Section 319 program represents the USEPA’s primary nonpoint-source water pollution control program and has been an important funding source for water quality improvement projects throughout the DuPage River Watershed. The USEPA requires nine components of a watershed-based plan.

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning has published the Guide for Developing Watershed Action Plans (link to document) in Illinois with funding from a Section 319 grant administered through the Illinois EPA. The “Illinois Guide” describes the USEPA’s nine components and how they relate to the Illinois Model Watershed Planning Stages. The document is a great resource for watershed groups large and small to help with the planning process so that when you are ready for implementation, funding support can be found under the Section 319 program. Below is a table from the Illinois Guide that illustrates how each of the nine components of the section 319 program are addressed through the planning process.