The Des Plaines Watershed Team is an organization of volunteers focused on flooding, water quality and related stormwater issues within the entire Des Plaines River watershed.

The Des Plaines Watershed Team was incorporated in early 1998 by a dozen people who are committed to local action and advocate sustainable, natural methods of flood reduction. The Team seeks local drainage problems that can be aleviated by reducing runoff of stormwater and then working with property owners and local governments to implement the improvements. It also advocates that new development be designed so that increased flooding is not an inevitable result of suburban growth. The Team’s approach weds flood reduction to enhancements in biodiversity, improvements in water quality, recreation and other river and community amenities. The Team is currently composed of present and former public officials with constituents who are under constant threat of flooding from the Des Plaines. Others are leaders in the paddling community, stewards of natural areas, and leaders in civic and environmental organizations.

People don’t have to wait for an act of Congress and then a decade long planning process before they can improve their local flood and stormwater situation.

The Des Plaines Watershed Team envision a Des Plaines Watershed in which individuals, garden clubs, homeowners’ organizations, developers, agencies and governments work together to reduce the threat of flooding at the same time they bring the river and landscape back to health.

Call for Action

Call for Action | About the Team | Current Conditions | Issues | What You Can Do | E-Mail

Home