The Water Survey was founded in 1895 as a unit of the University of Illinois Department of Chemistry. Its original mission was to survey the waters of Illinois to trace the spread of waterborne disease, particularly typhoid. In its first fifteen months of operation, the Water Survey responded to public requests for chemical analyses of 1,787 water samples from 156 towns in 68 Illinois counties. The Water Survey also addressed the health and safety of public water supplies, water softening methods, sewage and wastewater treatment, and the establishment of sanitary standards for drinking water.

In 1917 the Water Survey was transferred to the state Department of Registration and Education. At that time, the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation, composed of eminent scientists and professionals selected by the Governor, was established to guide Survey activities. Scientific investigations were expanded, and the state's first inventory of municipal ground-water supplies was published. Activities also focused on methods to determine water levels in wells, yield testing, and establishment of an ongoing survey of the state's surface waters.

During World War II, Water Survey chemists cooperated with the University and the federal government in studies on the detection of chemical warfare agents in water and methods for their removal. Meteorological efforts expanded in the postwar years, including the use of radar to measure rainfall and track severe storms and the establishment of networks of densely spaced raingages. The U.S. Weather Bureau transferred the state climatologist to the Water Survey, and computerization of the Survey's historical weather records was begun.

Population growth in the late 1950s and 1960s created the need for expanded water resources, and the Water Survey attempted to identify and increase usable supplies. Studies addressed reservoir development and maintenance, new methods for evaluating wells and aquifers, and the effects of future development. A statewide network of observation wells was established, and investigations of ground-water resources in the Chicago and East St. Louis areas led to a comprehensive inventory of the state's principal ground-water formations.

Since 1995 the Water Survey has been a division of the Department of Natural Resources. Support for scientific programs includes a state appropriation and income from grants and contracts with various Illinois state agencies, municipal groups, universities, private organizations and businesses, and various federal agencies. The Water Survey cooperates with all agencies concerned with the water and weather of Illinois.

Also see: Achievements
               ISWS Projects List