OK, so it's a new year. Things are different. Things are changing.
The frequent optimist in me believes things are getting better. The occasional pessimist disagrees. The analyst just wants to know for sure.
Fortunately, our friends at CMAP and The Chicago Community Trust have made certainty a lot easier to come by. MetroPulse, a new web tool rolled out late last year, gives users access to reams upon reams of data on a host of trends. Transit rides. Landmark preservation. Greenhouse gas emissions. Invasive species. Jobs near affordable housing. It just keeps going and going, and for every variable there are geographic and timepsan considerations to make. That's why I now know that Kendall County was the only part of the region with an increase in new patents from 2008 to 2009 (though the whole region is way up since 2001). You can export the data as an Excel file if you want to do a deeper analysis.
The data are from many different sources (all meticulously documented) and some more current than others, but it's amazing to have it all in one very intuitive place. As datasets are updated, some annually, some less frequently (and some actually more often), the tool will get more and more useful.
OK, so what do I want to know? I want to know how our region's water use is changing. Well, from 1990 to 2000, total water public withdrawals dropped in Cook and DuPage counties, while increasing everywhere else. Cook County's water use dropped 7 percent during that decade, while its population increased 5 percent (oddly, I couldn't find population data on MetroPulse, I went to the Census web site). That means Cook County got smarter about water. Why? Not sure, and that's not MetroPulse's purpose. It's a dashboard, not a diagnostic. My hunch is that communities using Lake Michigan water began repairing older pipe systems, while better technology (especially toilets) increased efficiency. I'm not sure how to explain the change in DuPage's withdrawls. The data suggest an 87 percent drop in water use there ... I don't know what to think of that.
There were big increases in groundwater (specifically deep aquifer water) use during the same decade. A very notable exception of DuPage County, which switched over to Lake Michigan water in 1992/1993. Cook and Lake's groundwater usage dropped during the same span, also consistent with greater use of Lake Michigan water, though Lake's has increased since 2000. Every other county, due mostly to population growth, saw increases. This is worrisome, because deep aquifer water requires more energy to pump, and once it's out of the ground, it's out. Deep aquifers recharge very, very slowly. The data are very rich for this particular variable, allowing me to look at yearly changes.
So are things getting better or worse? Are more people on food stamps these days? Do we have more commerical vacancy? Where are drug abuse and other crime rates headed? How about donations to arts centers? I am not telling, but I do know. Go find out for yourself on MetroPulse.