March 6, 2025 • 36 mins
Watersheds are everywhere, adjusting and reforming all the time - they are not static. Watersheds are a reflection of natural and human activities: as activities change so do watersheds as well as the waterways within them. Whatever happens upstream goes downstream. Hear from State Hydrologist and Interim Director of the Illinois State Water Survey, Laura Keefer, about how movement of water and sediment in a watershed shows we all live downstream. Check out the blog post on this topic for more information.
Learn More:
- Major Watersheds of Illinois map (Illinois State Water Survey)
- Illinois State Water Plan
- Fact Sheet
- Task Force information
- Erin talks of leaf marcescence in her Everyday Observation
Questions? We'd love to hear from you!
Abigail Garofalo aeg9@illinois.edu, Erin Garrett emedvecz@illinois.edu, Amy Lefringhouse heberlei@illinois.edu
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Garrett (00:06):
Welcome to another episode of the Everyday
Environment podcast, where weexplore the environment we see
every day. I'm your host, ErinGarrett.
Amy Lefringhouse (00:14):
And I'm your co host, Amy Lefringhouse.
Erin Garrett (00:17):
And we want to say a big welcome back to Everyday
Environment for our secondseason. It's been a while since
we've released a new episode,and we're really excited to be
recording again for our secondseason. For those that haven't
heard, our second season isabout all things water. We have
an excellent lineup of expertsand topics to bring you this
(00:40):
season on the podcast. Amy, doyou wanna share some sneak peeks
of what's coming up this season?
Amy Lefringhouse (00:45):
Absolutely. Well, you are going to be really
excited to learn aboutgroundwater during this podcast
season. We have wonderfulspeakers that talk, really
in-depth about groundwater. Andat first, I was like, oh, what's
that gonna be about? But staytuned. It's an amazing episode
on groundwater. We talk aboutrain gardens. We talk about
(01:09):
storm water, talk about theeconomics of water and how we
price our water. It's gonna be areally great season to, quote,
dive in to the topic of ofwater. So stay tuned. Stay with
us during this season.
Erin Garrett (01:27):
Yeah. We're really excited. And you stole my pun
that I was gonna say later, Amy.So it's we're probably gonna
hear it throughout this wholeseason, everyone. And we do just
wanna mention too that if you'renot familiar, each podcast
episode that we post isaccompanied by a blog post too.
And so you can always refer tothose. If you don't have time to
(01:47):
listen to the whole podcast, youcan read a blog post or vice
versa. We also always do somewebinars. So we'll have a
webinar in March and one in May.And then we'll also have some
videos on social media aboutwhat you can do to help prevent
water pollution. So there's tonsof things coming. We're really
excited to kick it off with ourfirst episode today. And as a
reminder, you can find all ofthis content at
(02:13):
So everyone get ready as we, I'mgonna say it, Amy, dive deep
into our water here in Illinois.Today, we're gonna kick off the
season with the big picture ofwatersheds, and our guest is
Laura Keefer. Laura is theIllinois state hydrologist.
Welcome to the podcast, Laura.
Laura Keefer (02:30):
Oh, thank you for having me.
Erin Garrett (02:32):
Well, we're gonna get started today by just asking
you a little bit about what youdo and the work that you do as
the state hydrologist.
Laura Keefer (02:41):
Yeah. As you said, I'm the Illinois state
hydrologist. I'm one of seven inthe state. We are actually
designated by Illinois statelegislation and statute. There's
a biologist and entomologist,that's bugs, geologist,
climatologist, pollutionprevention, and archeologist.
And they're all at the statescientific surveys in the
(03:01):
Prairie Research Institute atthe University of Illinois. Our
goal is really to just bringunderstanding and awareness to
the citizens of Illinois aboutsome important scientists'
scientific advances that theycan benefit by and, and then
learn.
Amy Lefringhouse (03:16):
I don't want to say dive in again, but let's,
let's, let's talk about... We'rekicking this off... our first
water episode. Let's talk alittle bit more about
watersheds. So, what is awatershed? Where is a watershed?
And why is it important?
Laura Keefer (03:36):
Well, watersheds, and I think people have heard
about them, but, reallyrealizing that they, are
everywhere. And what they do isthey they catch the rain. So
when rain comes, hits theground, it either soaks into the
soil or runs off. That runoffgoes down the hill, meets up
(03:58):
with another water drop, andholds it together, becomes a
rivulet. They pull together.They become a little creek and
join more creeks and go in ariver. And and so that you can
think of them as a bowl of landthat's kind of forced to finally
come together in one spot. Ikinda like to think of it as if
you if you've ever picked up aleaf and looked and saw the
(04:20):
veins in the leaf, and how itall pulls together into a main
line to one end, you know, thatis actually how a watershed
comes together, except of coursethey're not flat and they're
everywhere. So, if you want tolearn more, and actually have
some good visuals about it,there's several web pages that
you can go to. The NationalOceanic Atmospheric, NOAA, has a
(04:43):
great website, the NationalGeographic Society, and the U.
S. Geological Survey. So, youknow, you can learn a little bit
more about there. But they areeverywhere and they drain the
land surface. You can't goanywhere without being in a
watershed.
They eventually, like I said,form into a river and they flow
into lakes and oceans. And soit's a, it's a constant process
(05:07):
and you can be very close to theedge of several watersheds. I
like to use the example ofChampaign Urbana. You can you're
actually between different,watersheds. There's, if you're
over if Champaign and most ofUrbana, you're draining towards
the Vermilion River or theEmbarras River.
If you're in western ChampaignCounty, it flows to the
(05:28):
Kaskaskia River. Interestinglyenough, the Vermilion and the
Embarras River flow into theWabash River, which divides
Indiana, Illinois, and then thatgoes into the Ohio River and
then the Kaskaskia flows intothe Mississippi River. And then
the Mississippi and Ohio meet atthe tip, Southern tip of
Illinois and become theMississippi River. And they go
to the Gulf Of Mexico. So it'samazing.
(05:50):
If you think about a drop ofwater, you know, hitting here in
Champaign Urbana ends up in theGulf Of Mexico eventually.
Amy Lefringhouse (05:57):
I love that. I love the map that, and I don't
know which agency makes majorwatersheds of Illinois map. I
can't remember if it's StateWater Survey or State Geological
Survey.
Laura Keefer (06:07):
No. The Water Survey, we put out that map. And
watershed maps are very common,but we kind of tailored that to
Illinois because we wanted toactually demonstrate which
watersheds go to the Mississippiand which go to the Wabash,
Ohio. And the Illinois Riverwatershed, which really drains
almost half of the water, halfthe State of Illinois. So it's
(06:29):
color coded, so you can kind ofsee how much things are are
divided between those two great,you know, river watersheds.
Amy Lefringhouse (06:37):
Right. We we love that map. I of course, I'm
over on the western side of thestate, Laura. I'm straight, you
know, west of you on the otherside. And we right where I
teach, we're right kind ofexactly like you said in
Champaign Urbana. We're rightbetween the Illinois River
Watershed and the Mississippiwatershed. So we talk about
that. You know, if you spillyour drink in the parking lot,
(06:57):
you know, where is where is thatwater gonna end up at some point
in time? And depending on whereyou stand, it could go either
way. But yeah, we do use thatmap a lot as a tool and folks in
Illinois can use that for theirown properties and their own
homes to see what watershedthey're in too.
Laura Keefer (07:13):
Yeah. We, in my blog, I'll have a link to that
map that's actually if you hadthe right printer, you could
print a poster size of it. Butthe nice part about it is that
it has county boundaries andthen a lot of the towns Yeah.
But in so that you can actuallystart to maybe get close to
figure out what's my watershed?Where am I?
Amy Lefringhouse (07:33):
Absolutely.
Laura Keefer (07:33):
I think you mentioned you wanna know why
watersheds were important. Andit really has to do that really,
as I described, the water has apath and it gathers. And we we
use it for, for many purposes.Animals and plants all around
the rivers and everything.
And we've, we've gone ahead andimpounded a lot of the water to
(07:55):
make small farm ponds, or we'vemade lakes. Anything South Of I
80 is not a natural lake inIllinois. So we've impounded
those. And they're- they'remostly made for reservoirs for
drinking, power generationfactories, things of that
nature. But we drink from themas well, and sometimes we pull
water from the rivers, as wellas groundwater.
(08:15):
And people will tell you howthat works, you know, in your
subsequent episodes. But, wehave so many needs for water
that it can get very complicatedwhen there's not enough rain.
And then, you know, droughtsreally tell us when we don't
have enough enough water wherewe wanted to do. And then,
sometimes, you know, things canget carried in that water. It
(08:38):
could be sediment or it could bereally some undesirable things
that we don't want, and we haveto clean these clean them up in
order to use that water or makethat water better for the next
person downstream.
Amy Lefringhouse (08:50):
Mhmm. Everything on land ends up in
the water.
Laura Keefer (08:53):
Yeah.
Erin Garrett (08:54):
Yeah. Well, that's a great, explanation that kind
of leads into my next question,which is when we talk about
managing a watershed, how do youprioritize the different aspects
that go into that? So, you know,you mentioned drought, but
there's also flood control, youknow, water quality, habitat
protection. How how do we kindof prioritize all those
(09:16):
different parts that go into andaffect our watersheds?
Laura Keefer (09:20):
Well, I'm glad you asked because during just before
and during COVID, a coalitionwas put together by the Illinois
Department of Natural Resourcesto reassess the Illinois State
Water Plan. The last time weplanned "What Does Illinois Do
and Protect With Its Water" was1984. Yeah, it was it was due.
(09:42):
But, we worked on that. COVIDslowed us down, but a new water
plan came out in '22.
I'll put a link of that in theblog as well. But in that, the
agencies we had a long list ofcritical issues or things that
were important for water and,and having to deal with
watersheds, you know, implicitlyin that. But, we couldn't tackle
everything and we picked out 13of them. And that includes what
(10:05):
you just talked about. Flooding,water quality, water
sustainability, you know, theycall it the aquatic and
repairing habitat.
That's for the critters and, andthe, and the fish and things.
Things about water use laws andregulations, you know, how well
are they updated, the navigationof the rivers, erosion,
recreation uses. So that coveredthat. And, that is now managed,
(10:28):
by the State Water Plan TaskForce, which actually, was
always an unofficial groupthat's been going since the
1980s, but it actually was, justcodified in legislation. So it's
actually a standing group thatall agencies and scientific
agencies participate in.
And we came up with 130recommendations to tackle over
(10:51):
the next five, ten years. Butit's, the task force meets
quarterly and they do have awebsite and, anybody can listen
in and ask questions towards theend and people can find out
what's going on. And we try tokeep things up to date. So,
that's how it's kind of decided,you know, as to how the state's
going to be dealing with thingsand, you know, the Water Survey
is very involved in that and sowe try to bring our scientific
(11:17):
knowledge and institutionalexperience, to help address
those problems and do furtherresearch.
Amy Lefringhouse (11:23):
Well, you mentioned several, you know,
over a hundred recommendationsfor what we need to be looking
at as far as water is concernedand decisions that we need to
make. But how do how do ourhuman activities and the
decisions that we're making onour own land, like agricultural
decisions, land managementdecisions, or urban development
(11:45):
decisions, how do thosemanagement activities and
development activities, how dothey affect our watersheds?
Laura Keefer (11:54):
Well, I think, you know, anybody who's lived in an
urban area, you know, has seenmaybe a construction site and
they have, like, kind of theseburlap fences around them and
hay bales and things like that.You've seen them across roads
and everything, and those havebeen employed, you know, really
well in a lot of places becauseit rains, you're in a
construction site, you've gotnothing covering that dirt, and
(12:16):
it will carry it with it. Andso, it helps filter the water
coming out of that. So, thatdoes really help. There are
problems if you get one of thosereally awful downpours, you
know, and stuff, but itdefinitely really works.
But as far as like your ownbackyard, making sure you can
have in, maybe suburban areasare probably a little better
(12:37):
because you can have lawns andgreen spaces and parks and
things. But if you get intoreally, intense urban areas, we
have a lot of impermeablesurfaces. It's hitting, hitting
rock and water comes off faster.You know, how I mentioned how to
raindrop forms and stuff. Well,it just amplifies it and, and it
(12:57):
comes off a lot faster and a lotmore water And water, when it
comes together powerfully likethat, it actually has energy.
It has teeth. And when it hitsweak spots in, you know,
sometimes even between a lawnand a concrete or within the
drainage or the little nicelittle creeks that are flowing
through the neighborhood and canreally get tore up. And I think
(13:19):
people have seen that. So, urbanareas have their problems and
they try to take care of thosewith trying to put in projects
and restorations or projectsthat will go ahead and slow the
water down. You've seendetention basins, you know, in
shopping centers and stuff likethat. They're catching all that
water. You can't stop it, butyou can hold it and let it drain
(13:41):
out slowly down the line. Slowerwater is weaker water. Doesn't
have as many teeth. So, youknow, that, that really helps.
With agriculture, it's almostthe same thing. You know, we,
we've done a really good jobsince the Farm Bill started in
the 1980s, you know, when, we'veharvested crops. You know, we
have we have conservationtillage and a lot of no till and
(14:03):
things and a lot of the greenspaces and the riparian barriers
and things. There's so manygreat programs that help
farmers, you know, put these in.But again, if you get those
horrible downpours that we canget every once in a while, it
does hurt things.
Just like, in the urban areaswhere you hit concrete, the same
thing can happen in agricultureareas. The water in the plants
(14:26):
can only take up water only sofast. And when they're done, it
shoots off just like it would ifit hit concrete. And so we get a
lot of hungry water again. Soit's those extreme events that
really cause some, some issues.
And, and also, you know, we'vedone a lot urban and, rural
where we've actually modifiedthe natural streams that were
(14:49):
there in order for us to makeour land very productive for
food. And they're there to takeall that water and stuff. But,
they also have some weaknesseswhen, you know, they we get
those inundations of, of waterand so they can erode some more
as well. So there's a lot ofprogress to go in there. So
(15:09):
we're, we're on it. You know,there's a lot of things we can
do. It's, time and money, youknow, to get those things in.
Erin Garrett (15:17):
For sure. And for our listeners, we'll be going a
lot deeper into those topicsthat Laura just mentioned with
some other guests later thisseason. So we'll be diving a
little for a little deeper intoagriculture and water. And then
we've got, quite a few differentguests that are gonna talk about
green infrastructure, kind of onthe the homeowner scale and then
(15:38):
on more of the community scaletoo. So we'll definitely get
some more expertise and we'llget some more guidance from
those guests too, and some moreperspectives on what's happening
in Illinois and some examplesaround the state, which is
really great also.
All right. Well, for ourlongtime listeners, you know,
last season we focused onclimate change. And so can you
(16:00):
speak to how climate change isimpacting our watersheds in our
state and then what strategiesare being implemented to help us
adapt to those changes thatwe're seeing?
Laura Keefer (16:10):
Yeah. I think for details of maybe why we're
seeing these changes in ourclimate, I would go ahead and
defer to Trent Ford, who is theother state scientist of the
state climatologist. But from mytalking with him, and as well as
just being out there and being ascientist for my last thirty
nine years that I've been here,we're definitely seeing an
(16:30):
increase in those really heavyrains. Getting a lot more rain
in the same periods that we usedto get, you know, not as much
rain. Those downpours that, youknow, it seems like somebody
just opened up that spigot justwide open.
The trend that's been, looked atfrom, like, the 1900s to about
2016 shows that there's beenabout a 40 increase in what we
(16:54):
call the 1% storms. You know,they're the type of storms that
are the heaviest that you get.And they're 1% because and I
always like to try to explainthis to people because people
listen to, like, a hundred yearstorm or things like that.
That's shorthand forprobabilities. And and so it's
really your your statisticsreset every year.
(17:15):
And so this year, the slate'sclean, and the odds say that we
have just a 1% chance of gettingone of those outrageous rains.
And of course, it doesn't meanthat if we get one of those,
we're not going to get any ofthe next year. It's just saying
we're you know, we got more ofthose really rare ones that we
got. And those are the ones thatare really, you know, causing
(17:37):
some some issues that Andespecially if you get, kind of a
spat of them coming through, youknow, almost like one after the
other every week or something.You just don't get a chance to,
recover.
And those, as I describedbefore, is in the urban and
rural areas. It's really thoseare causing a lot of problems
(17:57):
and I've heard, that the reallypeople are starting to wonder
the best management practicesand the things that we have that
we've been using to controlthese things. Can they hold up
to these? And so, you know,there, there needs to be some
more research in that, and I'mhoping your speakers and the
next episodes can probably speakto that. The other part of these
(18:19):
varieties and climate we'regetting is droughts.
We don't have the same kind ofdroughts as we got in the early
part of the nineteen hundreds.We don't get as much where we
are a little wetter than wewere. But they do pop up and
they are telling us that eventhough Illinois seems to be
surrounded by water, we got theMississippi, we got the Ohio, we
got the Wabash, we got LakeMichigan. And there's a lot of
(18:41):
competing interests. And when weget a drought is when you find
out where those pinch pointsare. And so droughts can be,
just as informative and just aspainful as the the inundations.
So that's what what, some ofthese changes are are, wreaking
on us is really understanding,you know, how much water do we
(19:02):
really have and when we have toomuch, you know, can we handle
it?
Amy Lefringhouse (19:07):
It's really interesting, like, just studying
it and you guys are looking intoit a lot deeper. Just what do we
do when we have too littlewater? And then what do we do
when we have too much water? Andnot really at the, you know, the
homeowner level, but on thebigger picture, right, for
communities and for our state asa whole. So what role does our
(19:30):
state agencies and our federalagencies, and I guess the
regulations that come along withthose, what how do those play
into managing at the watershedlevel?
Laura Keefer (19:42):
Well, a lot of the state agencies, and I'm talking
about, the IEPA, you know, theIllinois Department of Natural
Resources, Illinois Departmentof Agriculture, they have
regulations and then programs toimplement the regulations to
help with these things.Funding's always an issue, but
much of the funding actuallygoes to help groups, watershed
(20:03):
groups assess what their issueis. There's perceptions. And
then there's, you know, what'skind of really going on and
really teach people a lot aboutwhat's going on in their
watershed and then, funds toprovide assistance to create a
plan on how to do that. And onceyou have a plan, that opens you
up to be able to apply for thoseprojects and events and stuff
(20:24):
that you need to educate andhelp, you know, reduce, you
know, the chances of damage andthe impacts of lots of rain or
not enough rain type of thing.
So, there's really a lot in thatwe... There's, the help that you
can get really spans not onlysome of those agencies, but you
(20:47):
can also get help from a lot ofdifferent local environmental
groups. And in the rural areas,my favourite group is your
County Soil and WaterConservation District and your
Extension Educators. They'rethey're the best. They're the
ones also that have the problemswith having enough funds.
But that's what they're there todo is to help you figure out
(21:09):
what's going on, create a plan,help you sign up for the funds
to implement things. And that'sthe mechanism that's there, and
it does work. It does. Maybeslower than we all like, but
it's there. And then, you know,with the water plan that's going
on, those agencies that Imentioned, as well as a lot of
(21:29):
other ones, their, theirprograms line up, you know, with
some of these issues so thatthere is that mechanism and the
plan highlights, you know, whattheir, their jobs are and, and
puts highlights and focusestheir efforts, you know, on some
of these issues.
Erin Garrett (21:45):
Yeah. And I feel like a lot of the times, it's
just it can be such anoverwhelming concept to think
about that, like, even sittingdown to kind of assess, you
know, in your region, in yourcommunity, where is our water
coming from? Where is it going?What are the issues that are
impacting us on that localscale? That's we're definitely
working with soil and water andextension. Right? We have that
(22:08):
local picture. We know the localcommunity. We know the local
conditions. It can be reallyhelpful to kinda break it down
and outline, like, what'shappening so that it's easier
for, you know, you to understandand be prepared, especially at,
like, that community level.
And that's something that, youknow, extension's working to
help, educate folks on too.We're gonna talk about in our
(22:29):
wrap up episode of the seasonand how you can get a little bit
more knowledge and get engagedin your community too, to help
with with understanding yourwatershed and and being an
advocate for helping prepare forthose extremes that we talked
about. Right? That not havingenough water and having too much
water. So definitely somethingthat we can all play a role in,
but but definitely comes intoplay a lot in that community
(22:52):
level scale. Right?
Laura Keefer (22:53):
Oh, yeah. Definitely.
Erin Garrett (22:54):
Alright. Well, we've talked about a lot of
challenges that that we havewith our watersheds. But if you
had to pick a couple of thelargest challenges, that are
facing watersheds in Illinoistoday, what would you say they
are, Laura?
Laura Keefer (23:09):
I think the challenges really come down to
if people understood theirwatersheds and how they react
better. It is one of the biggerchallenges. You know, them
better understanding how thatwater moves, why it goes there,
and- and what kind of effect ithas downstream. Because as I
demonstrated, you know, thatfollowing that water drop,
(23:30):
whatever we do here can actuallyaffect somebody in Missouri who
pulls water out of theMississippi River. You know,
that it's, it's just doesn'tdisappear, once it runs off
somewhere. And so understandingthat better makes people better
stewards of the water.
And I think getting people tounderstand that our that the
water in Illinois or reallyanywhere is not endless. You
(23:52):
know, as I, as I stated before,people think Illinois is water
rich. I used to hear, readthings about how bad droughts
were in the Southwest, you know,of the United States. And, you
know, maybe they would just pumpwater from Illinois or
something. And we're kind oflike, wait a minute. You know,
that it doesn't work that way.Because I, as I demonstrated,
when we have droughts, we, wedon't have enough water. Our
(24:16):
last drought was in 2012 and wehad nuclear power plants that
had trouble being able to pullcool enough water out of the
Illinois River to cool the rods,and be able to provide
electricity from those nuclearpower plants. They eventually,
they would have had to shutdown, but that would have been
pretty bad. But at the same timethat water was warming up and
our aquatic species and our fishand people, those, those animals
(24:40):
were really having a tough time.
And, Illinois River, Peoriapulls their drinking water, you
know, out of, you know, theIllinois River. It, it, it was
getting tight folks. So, that'swhen water supply planning comes
in and that really, there's ahuge water supply planning
program that the IllinoisDepartment of Natural Resources
operates. We provide thescientific information and
(25:02):
trying to get people toparticipate in those. So we know
what people are expecting, whatkind of water uses they think
they're going to have, and wecan provide the models and the
information for them to be ableto plan locally or even
regionally.
And people's, people'sparticipation is so needed, you
know, and, and it may be boring,but it's, it's really important.
(25:23):
So I think it's, you know, it'sthe information and the
participation is some of thebiggest obstacles. I think we
have some of the tools. Do weknow everything about how
water's working? Do we knoweverything about how chemicals
transform as they movedownstream and everything else?
No, there's so much more we needto learn, but what we do have
can can work, you know, ifpeople understand things better.
(25:45):
And I think those are thebiggest obstacles.
Amy Lefringhouse (25:47):
It's interesting.
Erin Garrett (25:49):
I was going to say, well, hopefully this season
of Everyday Environment is agreat step for folks to learn a
little bit more and then feelinspired to, to attend those
meetings. Right. And to voicetheir concerns and, and their
ideas and and to to really havea voice and a say in their
community. So I stole youranswer right before you said it,
(26:09):
Lauren. I'll at this.
Amy Lefringhouse (26:11):
Well and I think I think water sometimes we
take it for granted. Right? Ifwe we live in United States, we
have clean water, we have, youknow, it's just something that
we expect, you know, that's our,you know, baseline expectations.
And sometimes we don't realizeour participation, our
individual choices that ourparticipation in that cycle, you
(26:34):
know, of of, the water that weuse daily. So, yeah, getting
more information about all ofthat is important for all of us.
So as we're moving on throughlearning more and more about
water and watershed management,what new technologies from the
field or approaches that we'rewe're taking in communities are
(26:59):
being used today to improve, youknow, managing our watersheds?
Laura Keefer (27:04):
I I think right now we're working on trying to
develop better modeling tools sothat we can provide better
information to people. We'reputting together, some research
groups within the water surveyand PRI where we're really
trying to, approach how tointegrate the models that we
have and how can we use some ofthe the powers and advantage of
(27:29):
artificial intelligence ormachine learning to kind of
speed that up or help look atour data maybe a different way.
And by integrating, we haveclimate models, we have
watershed models, we havegroundwater aquifer models.
And not so much having those inreal time, but being able to
(27:50):
talk to each other in a way thatactually might help us tease out
some of those things we don'tknow yet and that we can add
more detail or knowledge to howpeople should be using their
water or cleaning the water,things of that nature. So, stay
tuned. That's kind of, you know,where we're going right now. No
(28:13):
model. Yeah. We're alwaysdeveloping models, and new
models. Technology has providedso much more, than when I
started. I was writing Fortrancode on deck cards when I first
started and and we didn't have aPC yet. That was after my first
year. But, the technology hasprovided, you know, a speed and
(28:33):
the computational ability thatwe didn't have in years and I
think that'll help keepimproving.
So, maybe that doesn't helpeverybody today in your everyday
environment, but we, you know, Ijust want to give people
impression that just becausewe've studied something and we
made a model, we're done. We'realways learning and we're always
improving. And, maybe sometimesthe answers might shift, but
(28:55):
it's not because, you know, wemade mistakes. It was just we
learned more and, we can, we canalways, everybody, we can all
learn more. My motto is I'm, I'mstill trying to figure out what
I want to do when I grow up.
Amy Lefringhouse (29:08):
When you say people, Laura, you're like, we
do we develop models for people?Are you talking about who are
who are the people that areusing those models that you guys
develop? Is it communities? Isit counties? Is it the is it
watershed groups? Is it all ofthe above?
Laura Keefer (29:26):
It's all the above. And, and obviously, you
know, we're, we're not going to,you know, the, the Forsyth
Garden Club or something andsaying, here's a model, run it.
That's what I did think. Youknow, you know, we work pretty
hard to find out what are thequestions or what are the needs
to have, and then we'll, youknow, run those models and then
give them options.
You know, we do not like todictate management. We like to
(29:49):
give people a range of optionsso they understand, you know,
why there's not just one answerand they can understand that if
they pick option B, these arethe results they're going to
get. And so they can tailor itdepending on, you know,
resources or how they feel they,they need to improve things that
they feel they're deficient. Atthe same time though, we will
(30:11):
work with municipalities. We'veworked with, businesses. We
actually provide a lot ofinformation to consultants who
work for municipalities. So weinterpret a lot. For our
scientific accomplishments, wepublish in journal papers. But
when we want to give informationto these groups, we write
reports. And, you know, we wesubstantiate why we use the
(30:34):
tools we use and stuff, and weexplain everything, you know, so
and then interpret for them andand bring it out. So we, you
know, it's kind of, farm totable type of approach to
science.
Amy Lefringhouse (30:46):
And you come on to Everyday Environment
podcast and take it down evenfurther for all of the rest of
us. So it's great. Thank you.
Erin Garrett (30:55):
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Laura, for
sharing all of your abundantknowledge about watersheds with
us today. We really appreciatehaving you on the pod. We're
gonna finish today's episodewith our everyday observation.
This is where we highlight themundane and normal of our
environment that's actuallyreally interesting. So, Amy,
what is your everydayobservation?
Amy Lefringhouse (31:14):
Well, I thought about this for a long
time because unfortunately, Ihaven't spent a ton of time
outside lately, but I have thisbuckeye seed on my dash in my
car. I don't know why. I thinkit's, you know, probably because
I work in this field. Right?But, wow, a buckeye seed is is
(31:35):
just kind of a neat thing.
And I've I was just looking atit. I was I had I had it picked
up the other day, and I waslike, this is such a beautiful
seed. And then I was thinkingabout all the different types of
seeds that were out there, and Ijust kinda went on this, like,
reflection of of all thedifferent beautiful seeds. And,
anyway, that's kind of that waskind of my everyday observation.
(31:57):
If you have never seen a buckeyeseed, try to find one out there.
They are native to the entirestate. Yeah. The buckeye seed.
And they've always said back, Ifeel like when I was younger,
did they say it was like goodluck if you found a buckeye seed
and you rubbed it? I feel likethat's a, it's a tale that was
told.
Anyway, I went super nerdy intothe different different seeds
(32:20):
and thinking about just thepotential and the the beauty of
a seed. So that's my everydayobservation. How about you,
Laura? What is your everydayobservation?
Laura Keefer (32:32):
Well, I had to think about it too. And and when
I drove in this morning, or atleast when I was drinking my cup
of tea, you know, at, at home,in my, my, three season room,
you know, just marvelling that,oh, it's going to be warmer, you
know, and the snow'sdisappearing. And, realizing
that suddenly after the lastcouple days of it being really
warm, you know, my dogs havewanted to go outside a lot more.
(32:54):
And more than you, and notbecause it was so cold, but
just, I have a nine month oldpuppy who adores harassing every
squirrel that walks on ourfence. And, and he's just been
going nuts, but then kind ofthinking, but, you know, he
really wasn't doing it thatmuch.
And, you know, when the NorthPole visited, you know, not too
long ago here, you know, Iwasn't seeing a lot of squirrels
(33:16):
and then realizing on my drivesto work during that Arctic
blast, the only real wildlife Iwas seeing was the red tailed
hawks. And, you know, it was,but I wasn't seeing very many
squirrels. So like everybodyelse, we were all hibernating as
much as we could, but thosehawks were out there and they
just reminded me of when Iactually would do field work.
You know, I'd go out andcollecting water and doing
(33:37):
measurements and being onbridges and and in the creeks
when, you know, muskrats andstuff would play hide and seek
with me and and all thedifferent animals and watching
turkeys go across the the fieldsand things. And it just made me
think, I can't wait for spring.
Erin Garrett (33:52):
I love that. I've been noticing all of the hawks
too recently. It's just thattime of year, right, when they
really stand out and you seethem all over the place. So
that's been really fun.
Amy Lefringhouse (34:02):
How about you, Erin?
Erin Garrett (34:04):
Well, my everyday observation in the past few
weeks have been trying to go ona walk every day. And my husband
and I have been we just have aloop around our neighborhood,
and we just really started tonotice the oak trees. We have a
lot of oak trees in ourneighborhood and, you know, I am
(34:26):
familiar with the concept ofmarcescence. I feel like we've
talked about it on the podbefore, but where a lot of oak
trees will retain some of theirbrown leaves throughout the
winter time.
And we were just noticing sometrends in the where on the oak
tree we would find the brownleaves. And so in the really
(34:47):
mature trees, it's only on thebottom branches that we would
see all of the, brown leaves,and then on like younger trees,
it could be the whole tree. Andso we were kind of speculating
like why that is. And thenthere's a great Extension
article on it that we looked up,that that kind of goes over some
different theories on why oaktrees, retain their leaves in
(35:09):
the wintertime because we don'thave just one single answer.
That's something that there'sbeen a lot of research done, but
we still don't totally know.
And the trend that they said wason the younger branches of
mature trees and then on youngertrees in general. So it was kind
of cool to take that conceptthat, you know, you can read
about and that we we've studiedand to kind of see it on the
(35:30):
landscape, in real time. Sothat's something that that we
just noticed on our on our walksaround the neighborhood is just
all the different, leaves on theoak trees and where we found
them. So maybe a little bit moremundane than our usual
observations, but it was kindacool just to to notice a trend
(35:50):
and then and kinda see, oh,yeah. Well, that is that is why
that happens.
So alright. Well, this has beenanother episode on the Everyday
Environment podcast. Check usout next week where we talk with
Hannah Griffis about theRiverWatch program.
Abigail Garofalo (36:07):
This podcast is a University of Illinois
Extension production hosted andedited by Abigail Garofalo, Erin
Garrett, and Amy Lefringhouse.
Matt Wiley (36:19):
University of Illinois Extension.
Welcome to another episode of the Everyday
Environment podcast, where weexplore the environment we see
every day. I'm your host, ErinGarrett.
Amy Lefringhouse (00:14):
And I'm your co host, Amy Lefringhouse.
Erin Garrett (00:17):
And we want to say a big welcome back to Everyday
Environment for our secondseason. It's been a while since
we've released a new episode,and we're really excited to be
recording again for our secondseason. For those that haven't
heard, our second season isabout all things water. We have
an excellent lineup of expertsand topics to bring you this
(00:40):
season on the podcast. Amy, doyou wanna share some sneak peeks
of what's coming up this season?
Amy Lefringhouse (00:45):
Absolutely. Well, you are going to be really
excited to learn aboutgroundwater during this podcast
season. We have wonderfulspeakers that talk, really
in-depth about groundwater. Andat first, I was like, oh, what's
that gonna be about? But staytuned. It's an amazing episode
on groundwater. We talk aboutrain gardens. We talk about
(01:09):
storm water, talk about theeconomics of water and how we
price our water. It's gonna be areally great season to, quote,
dive in to the topic of ofwater. So stay tuned. Stay with
us during this season.
Erin Garrett (01:27):
Yeah. We're really excited. And you stole my pun
that I was gonna say later, Amy.So it's we're probably gonna
hear it throughout this wholeseason, everyone. And we do just
wanna mention too that if you'renot familiar, each podcast
episode that we post isaccompanied by a blog post too.
And so you can always refer tothose. If you don't have time to
(01:47):
listen to the whole podcast, youcan read a blog post or vice
versa. We also always do somewebinars. So we'll have a
webinar in March and one in May.And then we'll also have some
videos on social media aboutwhat you can do to help prevent
water pollution. So there's tonsof things coming. We're really
excited to kick it off with ourfirst episode today. And as a
reminder, you can find all ofthis content at
(02:13):
So everyone get ready as we, I'mgonna say it, Amy, dive deep
into our water here in Illinois.Today, we're gonna kick off the
season with the big picture ofwatersheds, and our guest is
Laura Keefer. Laura is theIllinois state hydrologist.
Welcome to the podcast, Laura.
Laura Keefer (02:30):
Oh, thank you for having me.
Erin Garrett (02:32):
Well, we're gonna get started today by just asking
you a little bit about what youdo and the work that you do as
the state hydrologist.
Laura Keefer (02:41):
Yeah. As you said, I'm the Illinois state
hydrologist. I'm one of seven inthe state. We are actually
designated by Illinois statelegislation and statute. There's
a biologist and entomologist,that's bugs, geologist,
climatologist, pollutionprevention, and archeologist.
And they're all at the statescientific surveys in the
(03:01):
Prairie Research Institute atthe University of Illinois. Our
goal is really to just bringunderstanding and awareness to
the citizens of Illinois aboutsome important scientists'
scientific advances that theycan benefit by and, and then
learn.
Amy Lefringhouse (03:16):
I don't want to say dive in again, but let's,
let's, let's talk about... We'rekicking this off... our first
water episode. Let's talk alittle bit more about
watersheds. So, what is awatershed? Where is a watershed?
And why is it important?
Laura Keefer (03:36):
Well, watersheds, and I think people have heard
about them, but, reallyrealizing that they, are
everywhere. And what they do isthey they catch the rain. So
when rain comes, hits theground, it either soaks into the
soil or runs off. That runoffgoes down the hill, meets up
(03:58):
with another water drop, andholds it together, becomes a
rivulet. They pull together.They become a little creek and
join more creeks and go in ariver. And and so that you can
think of them as a bowl of landthat's kind of forced to finally
come together in one spot. Ikinda like to think of it as if
you if you've ever picked up aleaf and looked and saw the
(04:20):
veins in the leaf, and how itall pulls together into a main
line to one end, you know, thatis actually how a watershed
comes together, except of coursethey're not flat and they're
everywhere. So, if you want tolearn more, and actually have
some good visuals about it,there's several web pages that
you can go to. The NationalOceanic Atmospheric, NOAA, has a
(04:43):
great website, the NationalGeographic Society, and the U.
S. Geological Survey. So, youknow, you can learn a little bit
more about there. But they areeverywhere and they drain the
land surface. You can't goanywhere without being in a
watershed.
They eventually, like I said,form into a river and they flow
into lakes and oceans. And soit's a, it's a constant process
(05:07):
and you can be very close to theedge of several watersheds. I
like to use the example ofChampaign Urbana. You can you're
actually between different,watersheds. There's, if you're
over if Champaign and most ofUrbana, you're draining towards
the Vermilion River or theEmbarras River.
If you're in western ChampaignCounty, it flows to the
(05:28):
Kaskaskia River. Interestinglyenough, the Vermilion and the
Embarras River flow into theWabash River, which divides
Indiana, Illinois, and then thatgoes into the Ohio River and
then the Kaskaskia flows intothe Mississippi River. And then
the Mississippi and Ohio meet atthe tip, Southern tip of
Illinois and become theMississippi River. And they go
to the Gulf Of Mexico. So it'samazing.
(05:50):
If you think about a drop ofwater, you know, hitting here in
Champaign Urbana ends up in theGulf Of Mexico eventually.
Amy Lefringhouse (05:57):
I love that. I love the map that, and I don't
know which agency makes majorwatersheds of Illinois map. I
can't remember if it's StateWater Survey or State Geological
Survey.
Laura Keefer (06:07):
No. The Water Survey, we put out that map. And
watershed maps are very common,but we kind of tailored that to
Illinois because we wanted toactually demonstrate which
watersheds go to the Mississippiand which go to the Wabash,
Ohio. And the Illinois Riverwatershed, which really drains
almost half of the water, halfthe State of Illinois. So it's
(06:29):
color coded, so you can kind ofsee how much things are are
divided between those two great,you know, river watersheds.
Amy Lefringhouse (06:37):
Right. We we love that map. I of course, I'm
over on the western side of thestate, Laura. I'm straight, you
know, west of you on the otherside. And we right where I
teach, we're right kind ofexactly like you said in
Champaign Urbana. We're rightbetween the Illinois River
Watershed and the Mississippiwatershed. So we talk about
that. You know, if you spillyour drink in the parking lot,
(06:57):
you know, where is where is thatwater gonna end up at some point
in time? And depending on whereyou stand, it could go either
way. But yeah, we do use thatmap a lot as a tool and folks in
Illinois can use that for theirown properties and their own
homes to see what watershedthey're in too.
Laura Keefer (07:13):
Yeah. We, in my blog, I'll have a link to that
map that's actually if you hadthe right printer, you could
print a poster size of it. Butthe nice part about it is that
it has county boundaries andthen a lot of the towns Yeah.
But in so that you can actuallystart to maybe get close to
figure out what's my watershed?Where am I?
Amy Lefringhouse (07:33):
Absolutely.
Laura Keefer (07:33):
I think you mentioned you wanna know why
watersheds were important. Andit really has to do that really,
as I described, the water has apath and it gathers. And we we
use it for, for many purposes.Animals and plants all around
the rivers and everything.
And we've, we've gone ahead andimpounded a lot of the water to
(07:55):
make small farm ponds, or we'vemade lakes. Anything South Of I
80 is not a natural lake inIllinois. So we've impounded
those. And they're- they'remostly made for reservoirs for
drinking, power generationfactories, things of that
nature. But we drink from themas well, and sometimes we pull
water from the rivers, as wellas groundwater.
(08:15):
And people will tell you howthat works, you know, in your
subsequent episodes. But, wehave so many needs for water
that it can get very complicatedwhen there's not enough rain.
And then, you know, droughtsreally tell us when we don't
have enough enough water wherewe wanted to do. And then,
sometimes, you know, things canget carried in that water. It
(08:38):
could be sediment or it could bereally some undesirable things
that we don't want, and we haveto clean these clean them up in
order to use that water or makethat water better for the next
person downstream.
Amy Lefringhouse (08:50):
Mhmm. Everything on land ends up in
the water.
Laura Keefer (08:53):
Yeah.
Erin Garrett (08:54):
Yeah. Well, that's a great, explanation that kind
of leads into my next question,which is when we talk about
managing a watershed, how do youprioritize the different aspects
that go into that? So, you know,you mentioned drought, but
there's also flood control, youknow, water quality, habitat
protection. How how do we kindof prioritize all those
(09:16):
different parts that go into andaffect our watersheds?
Laura Keefer (09:20):
Well, I'm glad you asked because during just before
and during COVID, a coalitionwas put together by the Illinois
Department of Natural Resourcesto reassess the Illinois State
Water Plan. The last time weplanned "What Does Illinois Do
and Protect With Its Water" was1984. Yeah, it was it was due.
(09:42):
But, we worked on that. COVIDslowed us down, but a new water
plan came out in '22.
I'll put a link of that in theblog as well. But in that, the
agencies we had a long list ofcritical issues or things that
were important for water and,and having to deal with
watersheds, you know, implicitlyin that. But, we couldn't tackle
everything and we picked out 13of them. And that includes what
(10:05):
you just talked about. Flooding,water quality, water
sustainability, you know, theycall it the aquatic and
repairing habitat.
That's for the critters and, andthe, and the fish and things.
Things about water use laws andregulations, you know, how well
are they updated, the navigationof the rivers, erosion,
recreation uses. So that coveredthat. And, that is now managed,
(10:28):
by the State Water Plan TaskForce, which actually, was
always an unofficial groupthat's been going since the
1980s, but it actually was, justcodified in legislation. So it's
actually a standing group thatall agencies and scientific
agencies participate in.
And we came up with 130recommendations to tackle over
(10:51):
the next five, ten years. Butit's, the task force meets
quarterly and they do have awebsite and, anybody can listen
in and ask questions towards theend and people can find out
what's going on. And we try tokeep things up to date. So,
that's how it's kind of decided,you know, as to how the state's
going to be dealing with thingsand, you know, the Water Survey
is very involved in that and sowe try to bring our scientific
(11:17):
knowledge and institutionalexperience, to help address
those problems and do furtherresearch.
Amy Lefringhouse (11:23):
Well, you mentioned several, you know,
over a hundred recommendationsfor what we need to be looking
at as far as water is concernedand decisions that we need to
make. But how do how do ourhuman activities and the
decisions that we're making onour own land, like agricultural
decisions, land managementdecisions, or urban development
(11:45):
decisions, how do thosemanagement activities and
development activities, how dothey affect our watersheds?
Laura Keefer (11:54):
Well, I think, you know, anybody who's lived in an
urban area, you know, has seenmaybe a construction site and
they have, like, kind of theseburlap fences around them and
hay bales and things like that.You've seen them across roads
and everything, and those havebeen employed, you know, really
well in a lot of places becauseit rains, you're in a
construction site, you've gotnothing covering that dirt, and
(12:16):
it will carry it with it. Andso, it helps filter the water
coming out of that. So, thatdoes really help. There are
problems if you get one of thosereally awful downpours, you
know, and stuff, but itdefinitely really works.
But as far as like your ownbackyard, making sure you can
have in, maybe suburban areasare probably a little better
(12:37):
because you can have lawns andgreen spaces and parks and
things. But if you get intoreally, intense urban areas, we
have a lot of impermeablesurfaces. It's hitting, hitting
rock and water comes off faster.You know, how I mentioned how to
raindrop forms and stuff. Well,it just amplifies it and, and it
(12:57):
comes off a lot faster and a lotmore water And water, when it
comes together powerfully likethat, it actually has energy.
It has teeth. And when it hitsweak spots in, you know,
sometimes even between a lawnand a concrete or within the
drainage or the little nicelittle creeks that are flowing
through the neighborhood and canreally get tore up. And I think
(13:19):
people have seen that. So, urbanareas have their problems and
they try to take care of thosewith trying to put in projects
and restorations or projectsthat will go ahead and slow the
water down. You've seendetention basins, you know, in
shopping centers and stuff likethat. They're catching all that
water. You can't stop it, butyou can hold it and let it drain
(13:41):
out slowly down the line. Slowerwater is weaker water. Doesn't
have as many teeth. So, youknow, that, that really helps.
With agriculture, it's almostthe same thing. You know, we,
we've done a really good jobsince the Farm Bill started in
the 1980s, you know, when, we'veharvested crops. You know, we
have we have conservationtillage and a lot of no till and
(14:03):
things and a lot of the greenspaces and the riparian barriers
and things. There's so manygreat programs that help
farmers, you know, put these in.But again, if you get those
horrible downpours that we canget every once in a while, it
does hurt things.
Just like, in the urban areaswhere you hit concrete, the same
thing can happen in agricultureareas. The water in the plants
(14:26):
can only take up water only sofast. And when they're done, it
shoots off just like it would ifit hit concrete. And so we get a
lot of hungry water again. Soit's those extreme events that
really cause some, some issues.
And, and also, you know, we'vedone a lot urban and, rural
where we've actually modifiedthe natural streams that were
(14:49):
there in order for us to makeour land very productive for
food. And they're there to takeall that water and stuff. But,
they also have some weaknesseswhen, you know, they we get
those inundations of, of waterand so they can erode some more
as well. So there's a lot ofprogress to go in there. So
(15:09):
we're, we're on it. You know,there's a lot of things we can
do. It's, time and money, youknow, to get those things in.
Erin Garrett (15:17):
For sure. And for our listeners, we'll be going a
lot deeper into those topicsthat Laura just mentioned with
some other guests later thisseason. So we'll be diving a
little for a little deeper intoagriculture and water. And then
we've got, quite a few differentguests that are gonna talk about
green infrastructure, kind of onthe the homeowner scale and then
(15:38):
on more of the community scaletoo. So we'll definitely get
some more expertise and we'llget some more guidance from
those guests too, and some moreperspectives on what's happening
in Illinois and some examplesaround the state, which is
really great also.
All right. Well, for ourlongtime listeners, you know,
last season we focused onclimate change. And so can you
(16:00):
speak to how climate change isimpacting our watersheds in our
state and then what strategiesare being implemented to help us
adapt to those changes thatwe're seeing?
Laura Keefer (16:10):
Yeah. I think for details of maybe why we're
seeing these changes in ourclimate, I would go ahead and
defer to Trent Ford, who is theother state scientist of the
state climatologist. But from mytalking with him, and as well as
just being out there and being ascientist for my last thirty
nine years that I've been here,we're definitely seeing an
(16:30):
increase in those really heavyrains. Getting a lot more rain
in the same periods that we usedto get, you know, not as much
rain. Those downpours that, youknow, it seems like somebody
just opened up that spigot justwide open.
The trend that's been, looked atfrom, like, the 1900s to about
2016 shows that there's beenabout a 40 increase in what we
(16:54):
call the 1% storms. You know,they're the type of storms that
are the heaviest that you get.And they're 1% because and I
always like to try to explainthis to people because people
listen to, like, a hundred yearstorm or things like that.
That's shorthand forprobabilities. And and so it's
really your your statisticsreset every year.
(17:15):
And so this year, the slate'sclean, and the odds say that we
have just a 1% chance of gettingone of those outrageous rains.
And of course, it doesn't meanthat if we get one of those,
we're not going to get any ofthe next year. It's just saying
we're you know, we got more ofthose really rare ones that we
got. And those are the ones thatare really, you know, causing
(17:37):
some some issues that Andespecially if you get, kind of a
spat of them coming through, youknow, almost like one after the
other every week or something.You just don't get a chance to,
recover.
And those, as I describedbefore, is in the urban and
rural areas. It's really thoseare causing a lot of problems
(17:57):
and I've heard, that the reallypeople are starting to wonder
the best management practicesand the things that we have that
we've been using to controlthese things. Can they hold up
to these? And so, you know,there, there needs to be some
more research in that, and I'mhoping your speakers and the
next episodes can probably speakto that. The other part of these
(18:19):
varieties and climate we'regetting is droughts.
We don't have the same kind ofdroughts as we got in the early
part of the nineteen hundreds.We don't get as much where we
are a little wetter than wewere. But they do pop up and
they are telling us that eventhough Illinois seems to be
surrounded by water, we got theMississippi, we got the Ohio, we
got the Wabash, we got LakeMichigan. And there's a lot of
(18:41):
competing interests. And when weget a drought is when you find
out where those pinch pointsare. And so droughts can be,
just as informative and just aspainful as the the inundations.
So that's what what, some ofthese changes are are, wreaking
on us is really understanding,you know, how much water do we
(19:02):
really have and when we have toomuch, you know, can we handle
it?
Amy Lefringhouse (19:07):
It's really interesting, like, just studying
it and you guys are looking intoit a lot deeper. Just what do we
do when we have too littlewater? And then what do we do
when we have too much water? Andnot really at the, you know, the
homeowner level, but on thebigger picture, right, for
communities and for our state asa whole. So what role does our
(19:30):
state agencies and our federalagencies, and I guess the
regulations that come along withthose, what how do those play
into managing at the watershedlevel?
Laura Keefer (19:42):
Well, a lot of the state agencies, and I'm talking
about, the IEPA, you know, theIllinois Department of Natural
Resources, Illinois Departmentof Agriculture, they have
regulations and then programs toimplement the regulations to
help with these things.Funding's always an issue, but
much of the funding actuallygoes to help groups, watershed
(20:03):
groups assess what their issueis. There's perceptions. And
then there's, you know, what'skind of really going on and
really teach people a lot aboutwhat's going on in their
watershed and then, funds toprovide assistance to create a
plan on how to do that. And onceyou have a plan, that opens you
up to be able to apply for thoseprojects and events and stuff
(20:24):
that you need to educate andhelp, you know, reduce, you
know, the chances of damage andthe impacts of lots of rain or
not enough rain type of thing.
So, there's really a lot in thatwe... There's, the help that you
can get really spans not onlysome of those agencies, but you
(20:47):
can also get help from a lot ofdifferent local environmental
groups. And in the rural areas,my favourite group is your
County Soil and WaterConservation District and your
Extension Educators. They'rethey're the best. They're the
ones also that have the problemswith having enough funds.
But that's what they're there todo is to help you figure out
(21:09):
what's going on, create a plan,help you sign up for the funds
to implement things. And that'sthe mechanism that's there, and
it does work. It does. Maybeslower than we all like, but
it's there. And then, you know,with the water plan that's going
on, those agencies that Imentioned, as well as a lot of
(21:29):
other ones, their, theirprograms line up, you know, with
some of these issues so thatthere is that mechanism and the
plan highlights, you know, whattheir, their jobs are and, and
puts highlights and focusestheir efforts, you know, on some
of these issues.
Erin Garrett (21:45):
Yeah. And I feel like a lot of the times, it's
just it can be such anoverwhelming concept to think
about that, like, even sittingdown to kind of assess, you
know, in your region, in yourcommunity, where is our water
coming from? Where is it going?What are the issues that are
impacting us on that localscale? That's we're definitely
working with soil and water andextension. Right? We have that
(22:08):
local picture. We know the localcommunity. We know the local
conditions. It can be reallyhelpful to kinda break it down
and outline, like, what'shappening so that it's easier
for, you know, you to understandand be prepared, especially at,
like, that community level.
And that's something that, youknow, extension's working to
help, educate folks on too.We're gonna talk about in our
(22:29):
wrap up episode of the seasonand how you can get a little bit
more knowledge and get engagedin your community too, to help
with with understanding yourwatershed and and being an
advocate for helping prepare forthose extremes that we talked
about. Right? That not havingenough water and having too much
water. So definitely somethingthat we can all play a role in,
but but definitely comes intoplay a lot in that community
(22:52):
level scale. Right?
Laura Keefer (22:53):
Oh, yeah. Definitely.
Erin Garrett (22:54):
Alright. Well, we've talked about a lot of
challenges that that we havewith our watersheds. But if you
had to pick a couple of thelargest challenges, that are
facing watersheds in Illinoistoday, what would you say they
are, Laura?
Laura Keefer (23:09):
I think the challenges really come down to
if people understood theirwatersheds and how they react
better. It is one of the biggerchallenges. You know, them
better understanding how thatwater moves, why it goes there,
and- and what kind of effect ithas downstream. Because as I
demonstrated, you know, thatfollowing that water drop,
(23:30):
whatever we do here can actuallyaffect somebody in Missouri who
pulls water out of theMississippi River. You know,
that it's, it's just doesn'tdisappear, once it runs off
somewhere. And so understandingthat better makes people better
stewards of the water.
And I think getting people tounderstand that our that the
water in Illinois or reallyanywhere is not endless. You
(23:52):
know, as I, as I stated before,people think Illinois is water
rich. I used to hear, readthings about how bad droughts
were in the Southwest, you know,of the United States. And, you
know, maybe they would just pumpwater from Illinois or
something. And we're kind oflike, wait a minute. You know,
that it doesn't work that way.Because I, as I demonstrated,
when we have droughts, we, wedon't have enough water. Our
(24:16):
last drought was in 2012 and wehad nuclear power plants that
had trouble being able to pullcool enough water out of the
Illinois River to cool the rods,and be able to provide
electricity from those nuclearpower plants. They eventually,
they would have had to shutdown, but that would have been
pretty bad. But at the same timethat water was warming up and
our aquatic species and our fishand people, those, those animals
(24:40):
were really having a tough time.
And, Illinois River, Peoriapulls their drinking water, you
know, out of, you know, theIllinois River. It, it, it was
getting tight folks. So, that'swhen water supply planning comes
in and that really, there's ahuge water supply planning
program that the IllinoisDepartment of Natural Resources
operates. We provide thescientific information and
(25:02):
trying to get people toparticipate in those. So we know
what people are expecting, whatkind of water uses they think
they're going to have, and wecan provide the models and the
information for them to be ableto plan locally or even
regionally.
And people's, people'sparticipation is so needed, you
know, and, and it may be boring,but it's, it's really important.
(25:23):
So I think it's, you know, it'sthe information and the
participation is some of thebiggest obstacles. I think we
have some of the tools. Do weknow everything about how
water's working? Do we knoweverything about how chemicals
transform as they movedownstream and everything else?
No, there's so much more we needto learn, but what we do have
can can work, you know, ifpeople understand things better.
(25:45):
And I think those are thebiggest obstacles.
Amy Lefringhouse (25:47):
It's interesting.
Erin Garrett (25:49):
I was going to say, well, hopefully this season
of Everyday Environment is agreat step for folks to learn a
little bit more and then feelinspired to, to attend those
meetings. Right. And to voicetheir concerns and, and their
ideas and and to to really havea voice and a say in their
community. So I stole youranswer right before you said it,
(26:09):
Lauren. I'll at this.
Amy Lefringhouse (26:11):
Well and I think I think water sometimes we
take it for granted. Right? Ifwe we live in United States, we
have clean water, we have, youknow, it's just something that
we expect, you know, that's our,you know, baseline expectations.
And sometimes we don't realizeour participation, our
individual choices that ourparticipation in that cycle, you
(26:34):
know, of of, the water that weuse daily. So, yeah, getting
more information about all ofthat is important for all of us.
So as we're moving on throughlearning more and more about
water and watershed management,what new technologies from the
field or approaches that we'rewe're taking in communities are
(26:59):
being used today to improve, youknow, managing our watersheds?
Laura Keefer (27:04):
I I think right now we're working on trying to
develop better modeling tools sothat we can provide better
information to people. We'reputting together, some research
groups within the water surveyand PRI where we're really
trying to, approach how tointegrate the models that we
have and how can we use some ofthe the powers and advantage of
(27:29):
artificial intelligence ormachine learning to kind of
speed that up or help look atour data maybe a different way.
And by integrating, we haveclimate models, we have
watershed models, we havegroundwater aquifer models.
And not so much having those inreal time, but being able to
(27:50):
talk to each other in a way thatactually might help us tease out
some of those things we don'tknow yet and that we can add
more detail or knowledge to howpeople should be using their
water or cleaning the water,things of that nature. So, stay
tuned. That's kind of, you know,where we're going right now. No
(28:13):
model. Yeah. We're alwaysdeveloping models, and new
models. Technology has providedso much more, than when I
started. I was writing Fortrancode on deck cards when I first
started and and we didn't have aPC yet. That was after my first
year. But, the technology hasprovided, you know, a speed and
(28:33):
the computational ability thatwe didn't have in years and I
think that'll help keepimproving.
So, maybe that doesn't helpeverybody today in your everyday
environment, but we, you know, Ijust want to give people
impression that just becausewe've studied something and we
made a model, we're done. We'realways learning and we're always
improving. And, maybe sometimesthe answers might shift, but
(28:55):
it's not because, you know, wemade mistakes. It was just we
learned more and, we can, we canalways, everybody, we can all
learn more. My motto is I'm, I'mstill trying to figure out what
I want to do when I grow up.
Amy Lefringhouse (29:08):
When you say people, Laura, you're like, we
do we develop models for people?Are you talking about who are
who are the people that areusing those models that you guys
develop? Is it communities? Isit counties? Is it the is it
watershed groups? Is it all ofthe above?
Laura Keefer (29:26):
It's all the above. And, and obviously, you
know, we're, we're not going to,you know, the, the Forsyth
Garden Club or something andsaying, here's a model, run it.
That's what I did think. Youknow, you know, we work pretty
hard to find out what are thequestions or what are the needs
to have, and then we'll, youknow, run those models and then
give them options.
You know, we do not like todictate management. We like to
(29:49):
give people a range of optionsso they understand, you know,
why there's not just one answerand they can understand that if
they pick option B, these arethe results they're going to
get. And so they can tailor itdepending on, you know,
resources or how they feel they,they need to improve things that
they feel they're deficient. Atthe same time though, we will
(30:11):
work with municipalities. We'veworked with, businesses. We
actually provide a lot ofinformation to consultants who
work for municipalities. So weinterpret a lot. For our
scientific accomplishments, wepublish in journal papers. But
when we want to give informationto these groups, we write
reports. And, you know, we wesubstantiate why we use the
(30:34):
tools we use and stuff, and weexplain everything, you know, so
and then interpret for them andand bring it out. So we, you
know, it's kind of, farm totable type of approach to
science.
Amy Lefringhouse (30:46):
And you come on to Everyday Environment
podcast and take it down evenfurther for all of the rest of
us. So it's great. Thank you.
Erin Garrett (30:55):
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Laura, for
sharing all of your abundantknowledge about watersheds with
us today. We really appreciatehaving you on the pod. We're
gonna finish today's episodewith our everyday observation.
This is where we highlight themundane and normal of our
environment that's actuallyreally interesting. So, Amy,
what is your everydayobservation?
Amy Lefringhouse (31:14):
Well, I thought about this for a long
time because unfortunately, Ihaven't spent a ton of time
outside lately, but I have thisbuckeye seed on my dash in my
car. I don't know why. I thinkit's, you know, probably because
I work in this field. Right?But, wow, a buckeye seed is is
(31:35):
just kind of a neat thing.
And I've I was just looking atit. I was I had I had it picked
up the other day, and I waslike, this is such a beautiful
seed. And then I was thinkingabout all the different types of
seeds that were out there, and Ijust kinda went on this, like,
reflection of of all thedifferent beautiful seeds. And,
anyway, that's kind of that waskind of my everyday observation.
(31:57):
If you have never seen a buckeyeseed, try to find one out there.
They are native to the entirestate. Yeah. The buckeye seed.
And they've always said back, Ifeel like when I was younger,
did they say it was like goodluck if you found a buckeye seed
and you rubbed it? I feel likethat's a, it's a tale that was
told.
Anyway, I went super nerdy intothe different different seeds
(32:20):
and thinking about just thepotential and the the beauty of
a seed. So that's my everydayobservation. How about you,
Laura? What is your everydayobservation?
Laura Keefer (32:32):
Well, I had to think about it too. And and when
I drove in this morning, or atleast when I was drinking my cup
of tea, you know, at, at home,in my, my, three season room,
you know, just marvelling that,oh, it's going to be warmer, you
know, and the snow'sdisappearing. And, realizing
that suddenly after the lastcouple days of it being really
warm, you know, my dogs havewanted to go outside a lot more.
(32:54):
And more than you, and notbecause it was so cold, but
just, I have a nine month oldpuppy who adores harassing every
squirrel that walks on ourfence. And, and he's just been
going nuts, but then kind ofthinking, but, you know, he
really wasn't doing it thatmuch.
And, you know, when the NorthPole visited, you know, not too
long ago here, you know, Iwasn't seeing a lot of squirrels
(33:16):
and then realizing on my drivesto work during that Arctic
blast, the only real wildlife Iwas seeing was the red tailed
hawks. And, you know, it was,but I wasn't seeing very many
squirrels. So like everybodyelse, we were all hibernating as
much as we could, but thosehawks were out there and they
just reminded me of when Iactually would do field work.
You know, I'd go out andcollecting water and doing
(33:37):
measurements and being onbridges and and in the creeks
when, you know, muskrats andstuff would play hide and seek
with me and and all thedifferent animals and watching
turkeys go across the the fieldsand things. And it just made me
think, I can't wait for spring.
Erin Garrett (33:52):
I love that. I've been noticing all of the hawks
too recently. It's just thattime of year, right, when they
really stand out and you seethem all over the place. So
that's been really fun.
Amy Lefringhouse (34:02):
How about you, Erin?
Erin Garrett (34:04):
Well, my everyday observation in the past few
weeks have been trying to go ona walk every day. And my husband
and I have been we just have aloop around our neighborhood,
and we just really started tonotice the oak trees. We have a
lot of oak trees in ourneighborhood and, you know, I am
(34:26):
familiar with the concept ofmarcescence. I feel like we've
talked about it on the podbefore, but where a lot of oak
trees will retain some of theirbrown leaves throughout the
winter time.
And we were just noticing sometrends in the where on the oak
tree we would find the brownleaves. And so in the really
(34:47):
mature trees, it's only on thebottom branches that we would
see all of the, brown leaves,and then on like younger trees,
it could be the whole tree. Andso we were kind of speculating
like why that is. And thenthere's a great Extension
article on it that we looked up,that that kind of goes over some
different theories on why oaktrees, retain their leaves in
(35:09):
the wintertime because we don'thave just one single answer.
That's something that there'sbeen a lot of research done, but
we still don't totally know.
And the trend that they said wason the younger branches of
mature trees and then on youngertrees in general. So it was kind
of cool to take that conceptthat, you know, you can read
about and that we we've studiedand to kind of see it on the
(35:30):
landscape, in real time. Sothat's something that that we
just noticed on our on our walksaround the neighborhood is just
all the different, leaves on theoak trees and where we found
them. So maybe a little bit moremundane than our usual
observations, but it was kindacool just to to notice a trend
(35:50):
and then and kinda see, oh,yeah. Well, that is that is why
that happens.
So alright. Well, this has beenanother episode on the Everyday
Environment podcast. Check usout next week where we talk with
Hannah Griffis about theRiverWatch program.
Abigail Garofalo (36:07):
This podcast is a University of Illinois
Extension production hosted andedited by Abigail Garofalo, Erin
Garrett, and Amy Lefringhouse.
Matt Wiley (36:19):
University of Illinois Extension.
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