Learn about nutrient pollution at FREP meeting
The Fox River Ecosystem Partnership will hold its bimonthly membership meeting and program at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, at the Batavia City Council Chambers, 100 S. Island Ave.
The program, featuring Sierra Club and Fox River Study Group, discusses strategies to reduce a major threat to water quality: nutrient pollution. The program is free, open to the public, and reservations are not required.
After a short business meeting, the program will be opened by Jack Darin, Chapter Director for Sierra Club Illinois. Amy Walkenbach, nonpoint source unit manager at the Illinois EPA, will discuss the Illinois Nutrient Strategy's first biennial report and give an overview of progress at the state level.
Rob Linke, Kane County Division of Environmental and Water Resources and a Fox River Study Group board member, will discuss what is happening specifically in the Fox River Valley.
Nutrient pollution is evident in the form of excess nitrogen and phosphorus carried in runoff from city streets and farm fields or flowing out of wastewater treatment plants can fuel algae blooms that decrease oxygen needed by aquatic plants and animals.
In the Gulf of Mexico, nutrients washed down by the Mississippi River have created a "dead zone" that stretches for thousands of square miles. At home, nutrient pollution also can lower property values, hinder recreation, and degrade water quality.
The Fox River Ecosystem Partnership was established in 1997 representing the entire Fox River Watershed in Illinois, covering 1,720 square miles situated within the counties of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, McHenry and Will.
Membership includes individuals, governments, organizations and businesses that meet regularly "to promote, preserve, protect and enhance the natural, cultural, economic and recreational resources of Illinois' Fox River and its watershed."
For more information about this program and the Fox River Ecosystem Partnership, visit foxriverecosystem.org, or call Becky Hoag, FREP communications manager, at (630) 482-9157.