National Water-Quality Assessment Program
Upper Illinois River Basin

Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Romeoville

Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Romeoville is an integrator basin. The channel was designed and built between 1892 and 1900 to divert the Chicago River from flowing into Lake Michigan because it carried the city's then-untreated wastewater. The canal's terminus is between Lockport and Joliet where it joins the Des Plaines River. Originally built as a wastewater conduit, it was modified in the 1930's as the major navigational system connecting the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River via the Illinois River (replacing the old I & M canal). The basin is primarily urban and the channel receives a substantial amount of wastewater effluent. This was a basic fixed site during the High Intensity Phase and was sampled for 24 months.