Lake Decatur

Lake Decatur is a 2800acre reservoir located in the city of Decatur, Illinois, east of downtown. The city and lake both share the name of U.S. Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur. The lake is 613ft above sea level. Lake Decatur has a watershed of 925 square miles (2,396 km² or 592,000 acres) spanning 7 counties. The largest lake on the Sangamon River, it was created in 1920–1922.HistoryThe lake was constructed as a source of water for Decatur, especially the local corn refining industry. Corn refiner A.E. Staley led the campaign to persuade Decatur to borrow the $2.0 million necessary for the project. Staley was not being altruistic; corn wet-milling, which Staley's successor firm Tate & Lyle, and its local competitor Archer Daniels Midland, carry on to this day, is a water-intensive industrial process. Lake Decatur water is also used in the process of refining corn into ethanol. As of 2007, about 76 percent of Lake Decatur's water was used for commercial and industrial purposes.As the largest artificial lake in Illinois at the time of construction, with a 30mi shoreline, Lake Decatur quickly became a focus of local recreation. The invention of the gasoline-powered speedboat had made sheltered reservoir waters attractive to many inland Americans.TodayIn the years since its completion in 1922, the aging Lake Decatur has suffered from extensive siltation problems. It was designed to sit atop relatively flat prairie land, and is vulnerable to deposits of silt eroded from farm fields in the 925sqmi upper Sangamon River drainage area. From 1923 through 1983, Lake Decatur lost an estimated 35% of its designed storage volume. Although this trend has since been slowed by ongoing dredging, as of 2004 Lake Decatur was described as having an average depth of only 8ft. 2008 rainfall replenished lake levels although the dredging operations have failed to stem the loss of reservoir storage capacity; city officials considered, but ultimately decided against, constructing a second reservoir for water storage purposes.