On November 9, 2006, I had the pleasure of attending the annual U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) awards ceremony at the

USGS National Center in Reston, Virginia. My purpose in attending was to witness two current and two retired members of the

Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Water Resources (IDNR-OWR) accepting the John Wesley Powell (Powell)

award. The USGS Illinois Water Science Center nominated Gary R. Clark, Director; Donald R. Vonnahme, Director (Retired);

Arlan R. Juhl, Chief of Planning Section; and Melvin Allison, Chief of Planning Section (Retired) for the award (see photo on 

page 8). These four gentlemen were given the award for their longstanding support of the USGS Illinois Water Science Center

streamgaging, data dissemination, and research programs. These four gentlemen have been tireless advocates of the streamgaging

program and were instrumental in establishing Illinois as the first predominately real-time streamflow gaging networks in the

United States in the 1980s.

	 The Powell award recognizes an individual or group, outside the Federal Government, whose contributions to the

USGS’ objectives and mission are noteworthy. The first award was given in 1971 and was named for the distinguished scientist

and explorer who served as the second director of the USGS from 1881 to 1894, and who made the pioneer exploration of the

Colordao River.

	 While in Reston for this ceremony, I had the pleasure of attending a tour of two of the USGS National Research Program

(NRP) laboratories. The tour, led by Pierre Glynn of the USGS, highlighted some of the cutting-edge science ongoing within the

USGS in ground-water age dating and source-water determination. This tour served to remind me of the wonderful breadth and

depth of science conducted by the USGS. This newsletter contains two articles that overview some of the breadth. The article on

the National Geospatial Program activities in Illinois was written by the former Illinois liaison for the USGS Geospatial program,

Dick Vraga. Dick will remain involved in Illinois for a time as he helps familiarize our new liaison, Shelley Silch, with all the

many geospatial activities in Illinois. Pierre Glynn, Chief of the Eastern Region Branch of Regional Research for NRP, wrote the

second article that overviews the USGS NRP. Because of the many activities of NRP, both Pierre and Donna Ayers, editor of this

newsletter, had a challenge to keep the article within space limitations. I hope that you enjoy both of these articles.

Water Resources Update

USGS Illinois Water Science Center Newsletter

November 2006 

Message from the Director

Table of Contents

Message from the Director.......................................................................................................................................................1

National Geospatial Program Office Activities in Illinois.......................................................................................................2

National Research Program .....................................................................................................................................................4

Illinois Streamflow Conditions for November 2005 Through October 2006 ..........................................................................7

USGS Illinois Water Science Center Publications...................................................................................................................8

John Wesley Powell Award Recipients.....................................................................................................................................8

U.S. Department of Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Illinois Water Science Center

1201 W University Ave Ste 100

Urbana IL 61801-2347

http://il.water.usgs.gov/

Compiled by D.M. Ayers

Robert R. Holmes, Jr., PhD, P.E.


National Geospatial Program Office Activities in Illinois

by

Richard S. Vraga, Geography State Liaison for Wisconsin and Illinois

The U.S. Geological Survey has realigned its geospatial programs

into a National Geospatial Program Office (NGPO) to serve the needs 

and interests of the geospatial community throughout the Nation.

The NGPO strives to engage partners throughout the community in

its planning and in ensuring that its activities meet the needs of those

on the landscape. By connecting the components of The National 

Map (integrated base data), Federal Geographic Data Committee 

(FGDC) (coordination, policy, and standards), and Geospatial OneStop (information discovery and access), and by embracing and 

communicating the message of the importance of the National Spatial

Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the geospatial community and the Nation 

will realize the vision of “current and accurate geospatial data will be 

available to contribute locally, nationally, and globally to economic 

growth, environmental quality and stability, and social progress.”

Since its inception in 2004, 

the NGPO has been active in 

Illinois through the efforts of 

its Geospatial Liaison. The

following summarizes three

significant initiatives of the 

NGPO in Illinois: the 2005 

orthophoto project, the Innovative 

Partnership Funds for 2006, and 

the establishment of a NSDI 

Partnership Office in Illinois.

2005 Statewide 

Orthophotography

This project to acquire and make 

available orthophotography for 

the entire State of Illinois is 

nearing completion. Initiated by 

an agreement between the Illinois 

Department of Transportation 

(IDOT) and the USGS, the 

project required cooperation 

and contributions by 16 Federal, 

State, Regional and County 

agencies. To meet user requirements, the project was conducted 

in two parts. The “Chicago Urban Area,” which is defined by the 

six county area including Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry 

and Will Counties, utilized USGS Urban Areas high-resolution 

orthophotography specifications to meet Department of Homeland 

Security needs. The second part, consisting of the remaining 96 

counties, used National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) 

orthophoto specifications as the foundation, with one significant 

change: the ground spatial resolution for the data was increased 

from the standard 1 x 1 meter to 0.5 x 0.5 meters per pixel providing 

the ability to discern greater detail in the photographs. The aerial 

photography was collected in early 2005.

The results of the 2005 Statewide Orthophotography project 

are a significant contribution to The National Map (TNM), and 

the data will be available for access and downloading via the 

TNM Web mapping service and viewer and the Illinois NSDI 

Clearinghouse. Online since 1997, the Illinois Clearinghouse 

is maintained and managed by the Illinois State Geological Survey 

(ISGS). It is part of a network of more than 300 NSDI nodes 

worldwide, a program managed by the FGDC. Part of the benefit 

of being affiliated with the NSDI is that all nodes use a common 

suite of technology tools that allow users to easily search, locate 

and download geospatial data hosted on one or more of the NSDI 

servers. As of this date, all orthophotos for the Chicago Urban Area 

are available from the Illinois Clearinghouse and more than 300,000 

files have been downloaded. This effort was assisted by an Assistance 

Award from the FGDC. The remainder of the state will be “staged” 

to the Clearinghouse with a target 

completion date of October 30, 

2006. 

		

Innovative Partnership Funds

In Fiscal Year 2006, USGS 

Eastern Region NGPO awarded 

Assistance Grants to USGS 

partners to improve elements of

the NSDI in the region. Two such 

awards were made to the Illinois 

State Geological Survey for two

important geospatial activities

within the State: the Illinois 

Clearinghouse, and coordination 

of geospatial activities.

The Illinois Clearinghouse

An Assistance Award was made 

to ISGS to expand the existing 

Illinois Clearinghouse Web 

resources into a true Illinois GIS 

Portal. This new Clearinghouse 

identity will present a broader 

array of Illinois data resources to support the expanding needs of 

the State’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) user community, 

and the Illinois Clearinghouse will be a principal contributor to The 

National Map for the State. This project will emphasize content

updates so that available data are relevant and current. In recent 

years, many State, county, and professional organizations in Illinois 

have launched Web-based mapping applications. The revised Web 

portal will include metadata about, and links to, known Web mapping 

applications serving Illinois data. It will include links to other 

metadata servers and pertinent data sources to make GIS resources 

for the State of Illinois much easier to discover. In addition, the 

Clearinghouse will serve critical data sets. Visit the Clearinghouse at 

http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/nsdihome/


Illinois Coordination 

An Assistance Award was made to ISGS to lead the development 

of a process for establishing a recognized geospatial coordination 

mechanism for Illinois. It includes developing a draft strategy 

and conducting a meeting to raise the level of awareness amongst

decision-makers and geospatial professionals for the need and benefits 

of Statewide geospatial coordination. It will require meetings with 

geospatial leaders in the State to develop the strategy and a single day

seminar to develop broad support for the concept. Guidance will be 

sought from the Federal Geographic Data Committee and the National 

States Geographic Information Council.

NSDI Partnership Office

Since the inception of the NGPO, Illinois has been served by the 

Geospatial Liaison for Wisconsin and Illinois located in the NSDI 

Partnership Office in Madison, Wisconsin. It is a goal of the program 

to establish a NSDI Partnership Office in all 50 states as funding 

and available talent will allow. An NSDI Partnership Office was 

established on September 5, 2006 at the USGS Illinois Water Science 

Center and is staffed by Shelley Silch, Geospatial Liaison for Illinois.

Shelley began her employment with the USGS in Rolla, Missouri in 

May 1976 as a Word-Processing Clerk (Typesetter). Shelley noted, 

“This was back in the good old days when maps were created by 

hand. I set all of the type that went on each of our topographic maps, 

inside the map as well as along the collar. (http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/

pubs/booklets/topo/topo.html).” Shelley’s map-making experience 

broadened in the 1980’s when she transferred to the Branch of 

Photogrammetry, converting to the Cartographic Technician series. 

In this capacity, she compiled map manuscripts using PG-2 and B-8 

vintage stereoscopic plotters. 

Shelley left government service in 1982, traveling with her husband 

and children to a number of U.S. Air Force Bases. One notable 

exciting, yet somewhat scary, venue was when they spent three years 

in Athens, Greece. While in Greece, she gained a greater appreciation 

of her U.S. citizenship. Shelley returned to government service with

the Rolla USGS in 1991 where she was employed as a Typesetter 

once again. However, this position was short-term because the 

developments being made in the mapping world had shifted from 

producing maps by hand to producing maps digitally. 

Shelley soon transferred to the Production Operations Branch as a

Cartographic Technician and began revising and updating digital 

maps. Seeking a degree in Geological Engineering, Shelley enrolled 

at the University of Missouri-Rolla as a part-time student. She was 

selected for a conversion to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 

specialist, and she began working with GIS data and an assortment of 

GIS applications. After a conversion to a Physical Scientist series, she 

devoted her time on research projects related to remote sensing.

Shelley and her husband, Rich, relocated to Illinois in early 

September. Rich is a recent retiree from the USGS and is bringing a 

number of projects with him as he enjoys working on old trucks. They 

have five adult children who have left the nest. One daughter and 

husband reside in Wisconsin while the remaining children make their 

homes in Missouri. Shelley and Rich also have two granddaughters 

and two grandsons in Missouri. Shelley relished in the notion that 

email and digital cameras are part of everyday life. Shelley enjoys

gardening, sewing, stained glass projects and lessons in Carpentry 101 

from Rich! 

Following is a summary of the specifications used for the two parts of 

the project.

Chicago Urban Area

Area of Coverage: Entirety of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry 

and Will counties (see photo previous page of Shedd Acquarium).

Imagery Source: True (natural) color film. This was acquired during 

the leaf-off period from March 1 to April 30, 2005.

Projections and Datum: Illinois State Plane Coordinate System 

(SPCS), East and West zones; and Transverse Mercator, Universal 

Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid zones 15 and 16; NAD 83 datum.

Spatial Resolution: 1 x 1 foot ground sample distance per pixel for 

the SPCS orthoimagery, and 0.3 x 0.3 meter ground sample distance 

per pixel for the UTM orthoimagery.

Data Format: GeoTIFF with accompanying FGDC-compliant 

metadata.

Data Files: Each orthorectified image tile will represent a 1,500 x 

1,500 meter ground area produced at even 1,500 meter grid lines, 

without overlap between image tiles. Corner coordinates will be 

based on the UTM grid and shall be evenly divisible by 1,500 

meters. Estimated number of image tiles is 4,365 and file size is 

approximately 73 Mb for each image tile.

Illinois outside of the Chicago Urban Area

Area of Coverage: Entire 96-county Illinois area exclusive of Cook, 

DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

Imagery Source: Black-and-white film. This was acquired during the 

leaf-off period from February 15 to May 5, 2005.

Projections and Datum: Illinois State Plane Coordinate System, East 

and West zones; and Transverse Mercator, UTM grid zones 15 and 

16; NAD 83 datum.

Spatial Resolution: 1.5 x 1.5 foot ground sample distance per pixel 

for the SPCS orthoimagery, and 0.5 x 0.5 meter ground sample 

distance per pixel for the UTM orthoimagery.

Data Format: GeoTIFF with accompanying FGDC-compliant 

metadata.

Data Files: Each image file will conform to the USGS 3.75’ x 3.75’ 

Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangle (DOQQ) standard. Estimated 

number of DOQQ image files is 3,250 and file size is approximately 

175 Mb for each DOQQ.

Funding Partners:

U.S. Geological Survey	 	 	 	 	

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Federal Emergency Management Agency

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Illinois Department of Transportation

Illinois Emergency Management Agency

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Illinois Department of Revenue

Illinois Historical Preservation Agency

Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission

Chicago Area Transportation Study

The Counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry


Ecology: investigate ecological and biogeochemical processes 

that affect the quality of water in aquatic systems. Topics 

include: Microbiology, Aquatic Ecology, Climate and Ecology, 

Biogeochemistry

Examples of NRP Contributions

A few research contributions and advances that have come 

out from the NRP are listed below.

Surface-water and sediment-transport modeling: The MultiDimensional Surface Water Modeling System (MDSWMS) has 

recently been developed. MDSWMS (http://internalbrr.cr.usgs.

gov/~arburman/) is a pre- and post-processing application for 

computational models of surface-water hydraulics. Two different 

modeling codes are currently incorporated in MDSWMS, the 

one-dimensional, pseudo-2D, FastMech code and the fully 2-D 

STORM code (still under development). The codes have been used 

in combination with a variety of field observations, (e.g., LIDAR, 

bathymetric mapping, infra-red delineation of roosting areas) to 

assess and predict bridge scour and transport of metal-contaminated 

sediments, and to assess the effects of stream flow and consequent 

sediment transport on the distribution and quantity of critical 

ecological habitats and species (e.g., sand-hill cranes, white sturgeon, 

riparian vegetation). Figure 1 provides an example for the Platte River 

sand-hill crane habitat, where vegetative resistance to flow, and the 

ensuing distribution of crane roosting areas on sand-bars, are critical 

issues.

Ground-water dating: The Reston ground-water dating laboratory 

(http://water.usgs.gov/lab/) develops techniques to measure 

atmospheric tracers in ground-waters and uses the information to help 

determine ground-water residence times, flow rates and recharge ages. 

The measurements of very low level concentrations of volatile organic

carbon compounds (at part per trillion levels) is also used to assess 

the susceptibility of aquifer resources to contamination problems. The 

project also encourages and coordinates the use of other ground-water 

dating techniques and tracer measurements such as those portrayed in 

the figure 2 (Plummer, 2005). 

Ground-water residence times are often essential to determining the 

response times of watersheds to (1) changes in management practices, 

(2) to evolving anthropogenic effects, or (3) to changes in natural 

climatic variations. For example, the distribution of spring-water 

ages in the Chesapeake Bay watersheds (figure 3) shows that the 

response time to nutrient mitigation strategies, or to other natural or 

anthropogenic variations, may be lengthened because ground waters 

in the Bay watershed often have residence times on the order of 10 or 

more years.

Water-quality studies: The NRP conducts laboratory, field and 

modeling investigations on a wide variety of water-quality issues, 

including natural and anthropogenic contaminants such as arsenic

(http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/Arsenic/), mercury and methyl mercury, 

perchlorate, nutrients, pesticides and herbicides, pharmaceuticals 

National Research Program

by

Pierre D. Glynn, Chief of BRR/ER

Mission and Structure of the National Research 

Program

The National Research Program (NRP) in the hydrological 

sciences encompasses a broad spectrum of scientific investigations 

and focuses on long-term integrated studies related to water resource 

and environmental problems. The NRP provides an infrastructure 

within which the USGS can develop new information, theories, 

and techniques to understand, anticipate, and solve water-resource 

problems facing managers of Federal lands and the Nation. Detailed 

information on NRP projects, objectives, and publications can be 

obtained from the following Web site: http://water.usgs.gov/nrp/.

The NRP makes a deliberate effort to anticipate research 

needs that will be pertinent to hydrologic science issues of the 

future. New information, theories, techniques, and tools developed 

by scientists within the program are used by other USGS scientists 

and managers, by members of the hydrologic community outside 

the USGS, nationally and internationally, and by the public. The 

emphasis of NRP research activities changes through time, reflecting 

the emergence of needed new areas of inquiry and the demand for 

new tools and techniques with which to address water-resources 

issues and problems. The program is directly linked to and funded 

by other USGS programs and initiatives to ensure that NRP research 

addresses current water-resource needs. The NRP’s staff of about 230 

permanent and 80 non-permanent individuals is located principally 

at USGS centers in Reston, Virginia; Denver, Colorado; and Menlo 

Park, California. NRP Research can be subdivided into the following 

research areas, goals, and topics:

Water Chemistry: assess natural and contaminant chemicals in water 

and sediment, and study chemical and biochemical processes that 

affect the movement of solutes. Research topics include: Organics in 

aquatic systems, Carbon cycling and climate, Isotope hydrology and 

paleohydrology, Trace elements and radionuclides, Weathering and 

watershed processes, Transport and biogeochemical reactions, Gases 

in aquatic systems

Ground-Water Hydrology: understand the processes that control the 

transport and fate of subsurface water, solutes, microbes, particulates, 

and other fluid phases. Topics include: Development of quantitative 

ground-water models, Ground-water—surface water—atmospheric 

interactions, Unsaturated-zone hydrology, Fractured-rock hydrology, 

Ground water in geologic processes

Surface-Water Hydrology: quantify, understand, and model 

the physical processes that control the distribution and quality of 

surface-water resources. Topics include: Flow and transport in rivers, 

Watershed modeling, Estuarine hydrodynamics, Climate variability 

and surface-water hydrology, Statistical analysis of floods and 

droughts

Geomorphology and Sediment Transport: understand streamchannel morphology and erosional processes that govern the source, 

mobility, and deposition of sediment. Topics include: Sediment 

transport dynamics, Changes in river channels over time, Channel 

morphology and sediment transport, Flow and sediment mechanics, 


is conducted to assess flood and drought occurrences, and their 

associated ecological and environmental effects, on historical and 

geological time-scales. For example, NRP research has shown (Gray 

et al, 2003) how the occurrence of severe prolonged droughts during 

the 20th century may be correlated with variations in sea surface 

temperatures of the tropical Pacific and the North Atlantic Oceans.

Microbiology: NRP microbiologists (e.g., http://water.usgs.

gov/nrp/proj.bib/microbiology/index.html) investigate DNR/RNA 

characterization techniques that could improve bacterial source 

tracking, and study the occurrence and transport of a variety of 

microorganisms and pathogens in the natural environment. For 

example, work is on-going on the distribution of Helicobacter pylori, 

a bacterium that affects human health, and on the distribution of 

the Chytrid Fungus, an organism thought to be one of the factors 

and personal care products, radionuclides, and other organic and 

incorganic contaminants. Site studies encompass a full range of

environments (ground waters, lakes, estuaries, streams and rivers, 

permafrost and ice). Some of the most interesting studies investigate 

processes at the interface of different environments. In particular, 

ground-water/surface-water interactions and their effects on water 

quality are a leading edge of NRP research (http://water.usgs.gov/nrp/

jharvey/site/index.html). Figure 4 (Schuster et al, ES&T, 2002) shows 

the historical record of atmospheric mercury, as found trapped in an 

ice core from the Fremont glacier in Wyoming.

Climate modeling and understanding global shifts in water 

availability: The NRP seeks to understand and document climate 

(and hydrologic) variability, it’s spatial and temporal patterns 

and descriptive statistics, and potentially it’s causes. Research 

Figure 1. The use of multidimensional flow and sediment-transport models assists in the understanding of potential 

channel changes in the Platte River that result from stream flow and manipulation of vegetation on islands and banks. 

Surveys of topography and grain-size distributions will be done to predict local sediment rating curves and critical flows 

for initiation of motion for grain sizes in both main and secondary flow channels. For a variety of real and hypothetical 

flow-discharge scenarios, model results will be used to make preliminary assessments of the role of stormflow in maintaining or modifying channel and bank morphology. In addition, velocity and bottom stress maps of the critical reach 

will be compared to vegetation patterns to assess the roles of various flows in promoting or discouraging certain types of 

riparian vegetation.

Aerial photograph of study site 3/2003 MD_SWMS topographic surface

MS_SWMS computed depths (38 m3/s) MD_SWMS computed velocity vectors (38 m3

/s)


potentially responsible for the growing disappearance of amphibian 

species.

Conclusions 

The NRP seeks to serve the public by developing new measurement 

or modeling techniques, by conducting fundamental research on 

natural processes, and by applying it’s leading-edge investigative 

capabilities at sites across the US (and occasionally in foreign 

countries). Active collaboration with other USGS units, especially 

USGS Water Science Centers, and other Federal and State agencies, 

is key to helping ensure the present, and future, societal relevance of 

NRP research.

Plummer, 2005

Schuster et al, ES&T, 2002

Gray et al, 2003

Figure 2. Approximate Range of Dating Applications

Figure 3. Apparent ages (residence time) of water collected from 

springs in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in September and November 1996 (from Focazio and others, 1998). Figure 4. Historic record of atmospheric mercury from ice core 

samples.


Daily mean discharge from November 1, 2005 through October 30, 2006 compared with percentile distribution of mean daily discharged for the 30-year period, 1961-90, for 3 representative streamgaging stations. A daily mean discharge is in the deficient-flow

if its value is less than or equal to the 25th percentile, in the normal-flow range if its value is between 25th and 75th percentiles, and

in the excessive-flow range if its value is equal to or greater than the 75th percentile.

Illinois Streamflow Conditions for November 2005 Through October 2006


Listed below are publications that were published recently.

Federal Fiscal Year (FY) covers October 1 through September

30. Our policy is to provide copies of our publications to

requestors at no cost as long as the publication is in stock in the

USGS Illinois Water Science Center. To obtain copies of the

following, or any other USGS Illinois Water Science Center

publication, you may contact Donna Ayers at (217) 344-0037,

extension 3053 or by e-mail at dmayers@usgs.gov.

Reports also can be found at:

http://il.water.usgs.gov/pubs/search.html.

FY 2006

SIR 2006-5016, Suspended-Sediment Yields and Stream

Channel Processes on Judy’s Branch Watershed in the

St. Louis Metro East Region in Illinois, by T.D. Straub,

G.P. Johnson, D.P. Roseboom, and C.R. Sierra.

	 (http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5016/)

SIR 2006-5018, Computation of Discharge and Error Analysis

for the Lake Michigan Diversion Project in Illinois, by

J.J. Duncker, T.M. Over, and J.A. Gonzalez.

	 (http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5018/)

SIR 2006-5076, Hydrogeology, Water Use, and Simulated

Ground-Water Flow and Availability in Campton

Township, Kane County, Illinois, by R.T. Kay, L.D.

Arihood, T.L. Arnold, and K.K. Fowler.

	 (Web only at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5076/)

SIR 2006-5078, Concentrations, Fluxes, and Yield of Nitrogen,

Phosphorus, and Suspended Sediment in the Illinois

River Basin, 1996-2000, by P.J. Terrio.

	 (http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5078/)

SIR 2006-5158, Sediment Coring and Sediment Analysis on

Rasmussen Lake in Ethel’s Woods Forest Preserve Old

Mill Creek, Illinois. by T.D. Straub, D.P. Roseboom,

and P.G. Dennis.

	 (Web only at http/pubs.water.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5158/)

OFR 2006-1045, Geology, Hydrology, and Water Quality in the

Vicinity of a Brownfield Site near Yorkville, Illinois, by

R.T. Kay.

	 (Web only at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1045/)

OFR 2006-1430, Sensitivity of Potential Evapotranspiration

and Simulated Flow to Varying Meteorological Inputs,

Salt Creek Watershed, DuPage County, Illinois, by D.

Whitbeck. (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1430/)

	 	 	 	

USGS Illinois Water Science Center Publications

Pictured from left to right: Donald R. Vonnahme, IDNR-OWR Director (Retired); Gary P. Johnson, USGS Illinois Water

Science Center Hydrologic Data Collection and Analysis Section Chief; Gary R. Clark, IDNR-OWR Director; Mark Myers, USGS Director; Melvin Allison, IDNR-OWR Planning Section Chief (Retired); Arlan R. Juhl, IDNR-OWR Planning

Section Chief; Robert M. Hirsch, USGS Associate Director for Water; Robert R. Holmes, Jr., USGS Illinois Water Science Center Director.