On June 28, 1895, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees resolved to set aside funds from a special $5,000 appropriation for changes to the UI Chemical Laboratory $2,750 to “cover the expense of carrying on a systematic survey of the waters of the state.” (Report of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois1894/96). This action established the State Water Survey of Illinois now known as the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS). The focus of these early surveys was on public health and the safety of public water supplies of the state, with specific emphasis on diseases such as typhoid. The results of these early surveys are contained in the reports listed below in chronological order.
Similar work is carried on today by the Illinois State Water Survey Public Service Laboratory
The Bacteriological Laboratory moved in 1907 into specially designed quarters in the basement of the Chemical Laboratory building on the campus of the University of Illinois in Urbana. Photograph from Chemical and biological survey of the waters of Illinois : report from September 1, 1906 to December 31, 1907 (Illinois State Water Survey Bulletin no. 6.
Map from Chemical and biological survey of the waters of Illinois: Report for year ending December 31, 1917, Illinois State Water Survey Bulletin no. 15
From Chemical and biological survey of the waters of Illinois: Report for year ending December 31, 1917, Illinois State Water Survey Bulletin no. 15
