Photo courtesy of Emily Cikanek
An engineer checks the water level in a well in the City of Batavia, where levels have dropped by 200 feet in recent years.
MPC Research Assistant Shannon Madden authored this post.
See yesterday’s article, What exactly is groundwater? Groundwater Awareness Week begins to clear up the mystery, for background on groundwater in Illinois.
Back in 1861, the Ohio Supreme Court referred to groundwater as “so secret, occult and concealed” that it was nearly impossible to understand or govern. Fortunately, we’ve come a long way since then, and experts like those at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) continue to improve methods for analyzing this finite resource.
The ISWS, formerly a research entity at the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources, is part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois. ISWS Hydrogeologist Scott Meyer writes that, as a public interest research institution, “the ISWS provides unbiased and rational scientific analysis of water-related issues using advanced approaches and expertise.” In addition to performing analysis for three regional water plans, the ISWS also has provided assistance to local communities, such as the City of Batavia and Kane County.
Because so much of Illinois relies on groundwater, the state and region need critical information about this resource. By collecting water supply and demand information and developing groundwater models, groundwater scientists can better understand how much groundwater we can use sustainably. This will help local, regional and state policymakers develop long-term water supply plans, such as the 2010Northeastern Illinois Regional Water Supply/Demand Plan completed by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and the ISWS, to manage our water supplies so that they remain accessible far into the future.
Although the ISWS completed regional models for Northeast Illinois, the Kaskaskia Basin, and the Mahomet Aquifer, insufficient state funding limits the Survey’s capacity to analyze other regions. Yet increasing water demand, climate change and limited Lake Michigan allocations mean that we urgently need to assess the capacity of our groundwater resources. These assessments can serve as a “basis for planning and management policy [and] can function to assure the availability of clean water for future generations,” according to the ISWS.
We know that 19 percent of northeastern Illinois depends on groundwater. What we need to do now is prioritize research of this precious resource and strategize how to protect it for future use. The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) pursues these goals in several projects.
In the 2009 report Before the Wells Run Dry, MPC and Openlands identified the policy changes and resources needed to strengthen water supply planning in Illinois. Building on that work, MPC is providing technical assistance to the Northwest Water Planning Alliance, a five-county collaboration of groundwater and inland surface water users in Illinois. Finally, MPC and CMAP have begun regularly convening regional water supply stakeholders in northeast Illinois to discuss the science, policy and funding we need to strengthen water supply planning in Illinois.
Several counties and cities in Northeastern Illinois have committed to reducing stress on their groundwater resources.
Image courtesy of MPC
Aquifers are an important water source in Illinois, despite our proximity to Lake Michigan, and we should all work together to ensure their integrity into the future. Therefore, this National Groundwater Awareness Week, MPC applauds the ISWS’ and National Ground Water Association’s efforts to bring groundwater issues out of the “secret, occult, and concealed” and into the light.