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MPC's Abby Cristostomo and Josh Ellis are the featured speakers.
The Northwest Water Planning Alliance (NWPA) is an Illinois regional water supply planning group representing five councils of government, including roughly 80 communities in five counties (DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Lake and McHenry) and encompassing over 1.3 million people in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago, all of which obtain their drinking water from groundwater aquifers or the Fox River.
In response to population growth in this part of the region and reports by the Illinois State Water Survey that groundwater aquifers are not recharging as quickly as they are being drawn down, the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) has been assisting the NWPA with coordination of water supply and demand management strategies within and between communities, and ensuring those efforts are successfully implemented, monitored and enforced.
For example, over the past year, MPC and the NWPA have been working to establish a uniform lawn watering ordinance for member communities. By reviewing existing water conservation-related ordinances, surveying implementation strategies and impacts, and assessing lawn watering ordinance scenarios, MPC and the NWPA Technical Advisory Committee developed uniform ordinance language to be implemented and coordinated throughout the region. Development of this shared ordinance incorporated several rounds of input from a broad range of member communities and other stakeholders.
Hosted by the Illinois Section of the American Water Works Association, this session will describe the process and challenges of regional coordination, setting the stage for the NWPA’s next water conservation efforts and providing a model for other regional water supply planning groups to follow.
Visit the Illinois Section American Water Works Association website for registration information.