The Embarras River originates in Champaign County south of Urbana, flows south and east through Douglas, Coles, Cumberland, Jasper, and Crawford Counties, and flows into the Wabash in Lawrence County. It flows ~194 stream miles, 112 miles of which have Illinois' "Biologically Significant Stream" designation, and the watershed covers 2,440 square miles (Wiggers 1998). More than 10 miles of the lower river is channelized, and there is a large impoundment, Lake Charleston, in Coles County (Page et al, 1992).
Embarras River: Select documents in chronological order
- Letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting, with letter of the Chief of Engineers, report of a preliminary examination of the Embarras River, Illinois. byPublication Date: 1893Delivered to the 52nd Congress, 2nd Session. House of Representatives. Ex. Doc. No. 162, from the Office of the Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army, and describes a 15 mile reach near the mouth. The report describes an aging milldam at Lawrenceville, assesses the potential cost of improvements and opportunities for river commerce. The shallowness and limited commerce (rafts of logs only, and only during high water). The conclusion of the engineer (Petitdidier) was the river was "not worthy of improvements."
- Embarras River Drainage Basin byPublication Date: 1914pp. 176-186 in Water Resources of Illinois. Includes a description of the River, discharge and gage height data for 1909-1911
- Potential Yield of Aquifers in the Embarras River Basin byPublication Date: 1965This ISWS report on groundwater from the Embarras basin includes well logs from the region.
The life history of the slenderhead darter, Percina phoxocephala, in the Embarras River, Illinois by
Publication Date: 1971INHS Biological Note no. 74.- Summary : final environmental statement, Lincoln Lake, Embarras River, Illinois byPublication Date: 1971Discusses impact of planned impoundment of the Embarras River for the purpose of water supply for the City of Charleston, IL.
Economic analysis of erosion and sedimentation : Upper Embarras River Basin by
Publication Date: 1975Published by Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in cooperation with the State of Illinois, Institute for Environmental Quality- Flood plain information : Embarras River and tributaries, Charleston, Illinois byPublication Date: 1976Prepared for the City of Charleston, Illinois
- An Assessment of the Water Quality of the Wabash River Basin Derived from a Biological Investigation
byPublication Date: 1979The Embarras River is covered as a tributary of the Wabash, see pages 16, 42-46. Of the 204 sites sampled in the Embarras, 105 (52%) were found to be "unbalanced" and 64 (31%) were found to be semi-polluted (see Table 3). 
Hydrometeorology of Heavy Rainstorms in Selected Illinois Basins by Publication Date: 1981ISWS Report of Investigation no. 96
The Embarras Basin is covered on pp. 63-72.- Survey of Embarras River Mussels (Mollusca: Unionidae) and Fishes at the FAS/BRS 705 (Illinois Route 49) Bridge North of Ste. Marie, Jasper County, Illinois byPublication Date: 1987Illinois Natural History Survey Section of Faunistic Surveys and Identification Technical Report no. 1987 (1)
Reports of surveys of fish and mussels in the Embarras in Jasper County. Includes species list and abundance data. Mussel data are compared with results of a 1956 survey. - The Freshwater Mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionidae) of the Embarras River in Illinois Thirty Years of Stream Change byPublication Date: 1988This INHS technical report compares mussel fauna by hand sampling 25 sites along the Embarras in 1986-87 to similar sampling from the 1950s, showing declining abundance in 24 of 29 species.
- An intensive survey of the Embarras River Basin, 1987 byPublication Date: 1989Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, IEPA/WPC/89-212
- Biologically Significant Illinois Streams : An Evaluation of the Streams of Illinois Based on Aquatic Biodiversity
byPublication Date: 1992The Embarras River and Wabash Tributaries are covered on pp. 364-381 Embarras River Basin resource management plan by
Publication Date: 1996Issues addressed by the plan included drinking water quality and supply, erosion and flood control, fish and wildlife habitat, and recreation.- City of Charleston public water supply: analysis of drought yields from the Charleston side-channel reservoir byPublication Date: 1996Illinois State Water Survey Contract Report CR 598
Reports on a study to determine the sustainable yield from the reservoir (the source of which is the Embarras) for the City of Charleston. Critical Trends Assessment Project Phase IIInventory of Resource Rich Areas in IllinoisAn Evaluation of Ecological Resources by
Publication Date: 1996See pp. 104-108 for a description of the Embarras.
Embarras River Area AssessmentPublication Date: 19985 volumes covering geology, water resources, living resources, socio-economic profile, environmental quality, archaeological resources, early accounts.
Ground-water investigation in the Embarras River Valley, Jasper County, Illinois by Publication Date: 1998ISWS Contract Report no. 634- Evaluation of Watershed Management Practices for Improving Stream Quality in the Illinois Watershed Program byPublication Date: 2000Reports on evaluation of four river basins, including the Embarras evaluating Best Management Practices for water quality. Studies involved physical/chemical indicators, and surveys of fish and benthic macroinvertebrates.
- Embarras River watershed digital floodplain mapping, Champaign County, Illinois byPublication Date: 2002Illinois State Water Survey Contract Report 2002-05.
- Transport of Herbicides in the Upper Embarras River Watershed byPublication Date: 2002Research Report RR-91, Waste Management Research Center.
Reports on parent compounds and metabolites of herbicides from Embarras River water samples. 
Effects of riparian tree management on flood conveyance study of Manning's Roughness in vegetated floodplains with an application on the Embarras River in Illinois
byPublication Date: 2002ISWS Contract Report no. 2002-02- Charleston Side Channel Reservoir TMDL ReportPublication Date: August 2003IEPA/BOW/03-013
An assessment of the Charleston Side Channel as an "impaired water." This reservoir is an impoundment of the Embarras River. Segments of the Embarras upstream are also discussed. - Freshwater mussels of the Embarras River basin and minor Wabash tributaries in Illinois byPublication Date: 2012INHS Technical Report 2012 (30)
Reports on surveys from 2009-2011, during which a total of 34 live species of freshwater mussels observed, with the white heelsplitter (Lasmigona complanata) most widespread. Species richness observed was lower than historical records for the Embarras.
Embarras watershed
a portion of the 2011 Illinois State Water Survey's "Major Watersheds of Illinois"
Floods in Indiana and Illinois, including the Embarras River, 2008
Image from NASA Earth Observatory
- Additional reports on the Embarras River available online in IDEALSMost documents in this result set represent work from the Prairie Research Institute