Highland, Illinois — What does it take to keep a lake healthy? On Monday, September 14, HeartLands Conservancy will invite community members to see some of the answers firsthand during its Clean Water, Bright Future Tour in the Highland Silver Lake Watershed.
The tour will run from 9 am to Noon and will feature several projects designed to improve water quality, reducing erosion, sediment, and other pollution before it reaches local waterways.
That work matters beyond the health of the lake itself. Highland Silver Lake provides drinking water for more than 12,000 people in Madison County, as well as its tributaries.
Seeing the Work Up Close
The Highland Silver Lake Watershed-Based Plan, completed in 2021, identified a number of best management practices, or BMPs, that could help improve water quality in the lake and its tributaries. These recent projects are helping put some of those recommendations into practice, including through financial assistance for private and public landowners.
For HeartLands, the tour is a chance to show people what these practices actually look like once they are on the ground. During the tour, participants will see and learn about several of those projects, including an in-lake structure at Silver Lake, water and sediment control basins, and a stream riffle project.
Clean Water Starts Upstream
A lake’s water quality is closely tied to what happens around it.
When rain runs across fields, yards, roads, and other surfaces, it can pick up soil and pollutants along the way. That runoff eventually makes its way into streams and lakes. Slowing that water down and keeping soil in place can help reduce the amount of pollution that reaches those waterways.
That is the basic idea behind many of the projects being highlighted during the tour.
Water and sediment control basins can help slow runoff and capture sediment. Stream projects can address erosion and improve conditions in local waterways. Shoreline stabilization and woodland improvements can also help protect areas around the lake.
None of these projects works in isolation. Together, they are part of the ongoing effort to improve the health of the Highland Silver Lake Watershed.
The BMP tour will showcase projects funded, in part, through Clean Water Act Section 319 grants and give residents, landowners, local officials, and other partners a chance to see the work for themselves.
Take a Look for Yourself
The Clean Water, Bright Future Tour is open to community members interested in learning more about Highland Silver Lake, local water quality, and the projects being used to protect the watershed.
The tour will take place from 9 am to Noon on Monday, September 14. Registration is required.
To register or learn more, visit https://heartlandsconservancy.org/event/clean-water-bright-future-tour-2026/ or contact John O’Donnell at (618) 566-4451 x 14 or jo***********@*******************cy.org.
About HeartLands Conservancy
HeartLands Conservancy, based in Belleville, Illinois, is a nonprofit conservation land trust serving Illinois’ southern 36 counties. Its mission is to conserve open spaces, farms, and natural lands and enhance the community’s connections to nature in southern Illinois. Since 1989, the organization has conserved more than 11,500 acres of land – an area larger than Pere Marquette State Park.