[1] Bubbly Creek originates near 38th Street, at the Racine Avenue Pump Station of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

The grease and chemicals that are poured into it undergo all sorts of strange transformations, which are the cause of its name; it is constantly in motion as if huge fish were feeding in it, or great leviathans disporting themselves in its depths.

Here and there the grease and filth have caked solid, and the creek looks like a bed of lava; chickens walk about on it, feeding, and many times an unwary stranger has started to stroll across and vanished temporarily.

The banks of "Bubbly Creek" are plastered thick with hairs, and this also the packers gather and clean.Two heavily polluted streams that joined to create the South Fork were later filled in, but their courses can still be seen today in the configuration of streets and railroad tracks in the area.

[5] However, during heavy rains, millions of gallons of wastewater continue to be dumped into the stagnant creek by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

The creek's waters are largely stagnant, having little gravitational flow; the study investigated several possibilities, including a meandering stream amid a wetland, to restore an oxygenated system.