The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago monitors water quality in Chicago area rivers and streams. Water quality data including fish populations, dissolved oxygen and water chemistry are available on the Chicago Area Waterways Water Quality Data Map.
The fish population tab allows you to select a fish species and see the results of periodic monitoring at various locations. This data is intended to monitor fish abundance and diversity over time. The continuous dissolved oxygen (CDO) tab provides data from CDO monitoring stations. This tab has current data, which is updated hourly, as well as records of CDO data which demonstrate the change in dissolved oxygen over time. Finally, the water quality tab reports measurements of different chemical and biological constituents from the past two decades.
Navigate to a testing site near you to learn more about your local waterways. You can find the data and interactive map here.
