Observations
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1 February 2026
Alan Matson
Still much snow but no new snow since last week. There was lots of salt on the streets which are now just wet so lots of runoff and drainage. River still frozen except for small ripple area at testing site.
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28 January 2026
Alan Matson
8 inches of snow last week. Very cold all week, snow still on ground. Much salt application on nearby streets. The river is completely iced over except small patch with rock ripples where I sample.
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21 November 2025
Alan Matson
No snow for last ten days. Increased chloride maybe from last week runoff?
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10 November 2025
Alan Matson
First snow of the season this morning. 5 inches. Sample should be before too much road salt got in the river but higher than I expected.
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11 December 2024
Alan Matson
First baseline test of season before snow starts. Always higher than I think it would be.
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11 April 2024
Alan Matson
Certainly no snow for a while so no salting the roadways. And very little snow all winter. River still a little high from lots of recent rain, but much lower than it was. Seems like that would have washed out a lot of street residue. So still surprised how high the chloride level is.
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17 February 2024
Alan Matson
Sunny. First cold day after 3 week stretch of way above average temperatures.
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14 January 2024
Alan Matson
Another big snow ending yesterday. Lots of salt spread on our local streets near the river. So chlorine should be increasing, and up 100 since last week! Now very cold. Ice crystals forming on the river and condensing to slush. The banks are starting to freeze. Whole river should freeze over next couple of days
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10 January 2024
Alan Matson
Just had a big snowfall and expecting another. River very high from the mixed snow and rain
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30 December 2023
Alan Matson
Quiet on the river. No snow and not much rain since Halloween. Chlorine level same as October. Maybe baseline steady level.
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28 October 2023
Alan Matson
Still a little surprised there is considerable chlorine in the water months after presumed last salt application. We are downstream from a golf course. Do any of the fertilizers contain chlorides?
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28 May 2023
Alan Matson
So surprising that chloride level is still so high. Where is it coming from? I tested our tap water. Way below scale at 0.9, test strip scale starts at 1.4, 31ppm.
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1 April 2023
Alan Matson
River very high after recent rains. Filling the forest preserve flood plain across from us. Lowest Cl level by far. No snow for awhile and probably much diluted by high waters.
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9 March 2023
Alan Matson
Surprised level went up considerably since last week. No snow or other precipitation last 10 days, maybe heavy rains 10 days ago washed more from the streets into the river.