DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - On Monday night, the Decatur City Council voted to relaunch a research partnership with the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois. The agreement will monitor hydrology, sediment and nutrients in the Upper Sangamon River Watershed.

This research will help the city update it’s Watershed Development Plan, which works to improve the quality of water flowing into Lake Decatur and ultimately your home.

"The cleaner the water is coming in, the less the lake gets filled. So it is trying to improve the quality of the water and the materials that are in the water,” Matt Newell, Decatur’s public works direction, told WAND News.

When water comes rushing into the lake from streams and creeks nearby, sediment and other chemicals are churned up. The invisible nutrients are what Erin Bauer and her research team are taking a closer look at.

"All the stream, upstream of the lake where the water is moving, that's where the sediment is brought into the lake. Then, when it comes into the lake, the water velocity stops and that's when all the sediment settles out of the water,” Bauer explained.

Bauer is the research project coordinator for the Illinois State Water Survey.

Over time, the settling dirt and rock that Bauer referred to literally shrinks the lake. That can lead to dredging projects to clear out sediment, like the one the city launched in 2014.

"City council is committed to putting more of the city's resources into the watershed, to reduce the sediment, so we don't have to dredge again for a really long time. And this will help us monitor how successful we are,” Newell added.

There are also nitrates and phosphorus in the water, which are only safe at low levels. Bauer said the levels have improved since she completed the first round of watershed sampling from 1993 to 2003.

"Maybe it's changed, because the agricultural practices have changed over the years, so that's an important thing,” Bauer said.

But the data her team collects will let the city know if their plans have worked so far, or if changes need to be made.

"If there's been a change, then they would develop a different watershed management plan. If it's the same as it was 15 years ago, then maybe they would go with something that they had before,” Bauer explained.

The data from the collaboration will be presented throughout the year to the Decatur City Council.