Despite the name, Seavey Ditch has officials' respect

You can't miss it on the map. Still, the Seavey Ditch isn't exactly the type of must-see attraction communities like to promote.

The name conjures an image of a muddy pit, after all. But as one of four major branches integral to draining water in south central Lake County, it is more than that.

That's why local and county officials have a keen interest in keeping Seavey operating like it should, and are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve it.

By late February, work is expected to begin to remove two small dams on a portion of the Seavey that runs through Vernon Hills' municipal golf course. And, Mundelein trustees expect to consider substantial upgrades during upcoming budget discussions.

While having a waterway identified as a ditch through town might be a sore spot for officials in Mundelein and Vernon Hills, the importance of the 5-mile-long channel is undeniable. The Seavey flows to Indian Creek and the Des Plaines River, and is vital in moving water that otherwise might end up in basements or other undesirable places.

"It's all connected. That's why it's important," said Sean Wiedel, watershed planner for the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission.

Seavey at times is 10 feet deep and a dozen or more feet across. At times, water races through at 4 feet per second.

"You don't realize how important it is until you get the type of rainfall we had last August," said Ray Semple, a Mundelein trustee and chairman of the board's public works committee.

The Seavey's origin is murky. Who was Seavey? Was the ditch dug by a single farmer trying to improve his lot? Or was it a collaborative effort? The answers likely are contained in dusty records from a century ago that few now know or care about.

Created to drain agricultural lands, the ditch is a throwback solution to a water problem that still works. It is one of four major branches integral to draining the Indian Creek watershed, which covers 38 square miles over 10 municipalities and four townships in south central Lake County.

When its course was mostly farmland, water would slowly make its way to the ditch, said David Brown, Vernon Hills' village engineer. Since settlers began arriving, more than half the wetlands have been drained or filled. More than 60 percent of the land has been developed.

"You're asking this ditch to do a lot more. It wants to be wider. It wants to change its direction. It wants to start rechanneling itself," Brown said.

Between grants and village funds, Vernon Hills has spent or budgeted about $1.3 million in recent years to improve the banks and plantings along sections of the Seavey. That work and other projects and initiatives prompted the stormwater agency to name Vernon Hills its 2007 community of the year.

"A lot of communities unfortunately treat their streams still like open storm sewers," Wiedel said. "Vernon Hills has been very forward-thinking."

Removing the dams from the golf course portion of the ditch will improve water quality and stop sediment from accumulating and backing up the entire system, Brown said. Sediment also contributes to the stream overrunning its banks during heavy rains, creating a large pool on the golf course.

A few years ago, Mundelein cleaned and deepened the ditch from Seymour Avenue to Shaddel Avenue. But the second part of that project east to about Butterfield Road has been deferred.

"It's basically like four lanes of traffic on the toll road going into one lane," Semple said.

While not a glamorous project, Semple considers finishing that job a priority.

"The reason it's been an easy project to put on the back burner is because it's an expensive project," he said. "If we invest $1 million in blacktop, people see an improvement."

The Seavey ditch originates in a wetland area near routes 176 and 60/83. It flows due east, at times underground through a series of storm sewers installed more than half a century ago, before emerging at Kracklauer Park at Route 45 and East Crystal Street.

Flanked by large field flat stones, the ditch at this point looks like a good picnic spot, the result of previous work by the Mundelein Park and Recreation District.

The ditch continues east through Mundelein neighborhoods and then into Libertyville Township. No one is certain, but that could be the point where the name Seavey comes into play.

According to the Lake County Discovery Museum, W.J. Seavey farmed 90 acres near Butterfield Road, south of Route 176 near Fairlawn Avenue. A postcard on loan to the museum shows a work crew atop a ditch-digging machine.

Dated June 30, 1911, it includes a message from one of the workers saying he won't be home for the Fourth of July holiday because the machine has to be disassembled to cross a railroad bridge.

Seavey begins to bend south near Lake Charles in the Gregg's Landing subdivision east of Butterfield. The ditch was rerouted and a dam built to create the lake, according to Brown, the Vernon Hills engineer.

The first storm water regulations originated in Cook County in 1969, and planners generally were getting a better handle on storm water issues. By the time residential development arrived south of Lake Charles in the 1970s, detention areas became requirements.

Big Bear and Little Bear lakes in the New Centurytown subdivision, for example, actually are large detention areas through which the Seavey flows.

Last fall, the stormwater management commission issued a comprehensive plan for the Indian Creek watershed, which includes Seavey and other waterways.

Stream bank erosion remains a threat to water quality and flooding in sections of the Seavey Ditch, the report says.

"It's working very well," says Pam Newton, a Lake County board member, whose district includes a portion of the Seavey Ditch. "The infrastructure has done it's job, really unchanged, for a century."