The winter season is the perfect time of year for communities to become ‘salt smart’ and practice sensible salting! This means being strategic and responsible about salt usage and placement for optimal performance without excess use. It also means incorporating alternative de-icing materials like salt brine and beet juice into snow and ice management to cut back on salt use.
Each winter, communities across northeastern Illinois use salt to manage ice on roads, sidewalks, and parking lots. While maintaining public safety during winter conditions is necessary, much of the salt applied to paved surfaces using old methods is excessive and leads to costly economic and environmental impacts. The need to protect source water is growing exponentially as drinking water supplies throughout the NWPA region continue to be threatened by water quality and quantity constraints. Population growth and the depletion of the sandstone aquifers are pressuring many communities to rely more heavily on shallow aquifers or turn to a different water source entirely. However, these sources also have their share of complications. Shallow aquifers are vulnerable to contamination given their proximity to the land’s surface. At the same time, dry spells and drought conditions diminish supply in shallow aquifers and rivers. Weather trends like these will likely be more prevalent as climate change upends the region, making these sources less reliable into the future. In response to this need for improved protection, state legislation was passed in July 2019 requiring that community water suppliers (CWSs) develop a source water protection plan (SWPP) – a plan aimed at advancing the protection of the water quality and quantity at the community level. In an effort to better coordinate and conserve the region’s water resources, this type of plan can help a community protect its source water. Source Water Protection Plans 101 Each SWPP must contain at minimum four specific elements: a vision statement, a source water assessment, plan objectives, and an action plan to meet the plan’s objectives (see Ill. Admin. Code tit. 35, § 604.305).
Leveraging SWPPs in the NWPA region While SWPPs are a requirement for all CWSs, communities should view their plan—more specifically the planning process—as an opportunity to comprehensively address the community’s source water protection challenges. In addition to the baseline requirements, CWSs could assess existing water conservation efforts in search for opportunities to ‘protect’ source water by simply using less, whether that be through reducing outdoor water use or water efficiency measures. Similarly, CWSs can assess the community’s future land use as well as projected water demand relative to the community’s water supply to better understand future challenges and potential options. Like many planning processes, stakeholder engagement and community support and buy-in are key to plan implementation. This holds true for SWPPs as well. Recognizing that CWSs are not the only actor vested in source water protection, the SWPP planning process can help CWSs improve coordination and align efforts as they identify stakeholders, engage with the public, and learn about other existing source water protection efforts within the CWS service area. Soil and water conservation districts, chambers of commerce, and local watershed planning groups are a few entities, for example, that may have a role in helping implement a CWS’s SWPP action plan. Aurora, Elgin, and Sugar Grove are a few NWPA communities that are in the process of developing a SWPP that goes beyond the minimum requirements. These CWSs can serve as a resource to other communities that are interested in learning about the planning process and how to approach the SWPP development more comprehensively. Elgin, for instance, is focusing on stakeholder and community engagement to give the CWS an opportunity to take advantage of existing protection efforts already underway and garner community support to minimize barriers to plan implementation. Sugar Grove's SWPP provides a thorough assessment of water quality impacts, including a detailed overview of their wellhead protection areas and evaluating potential sources of contamination based on point sources and the existing land uses within the community. Resources for preparing SWPPs There are a variety of resources that can help CWSs get started on their SWPP! Back in the early 2000s, the Illinois EPA developed Community Water Supply Source Water Assessment Program Factsheets. These function as a great starting point for a CWS as it develops its source water assessment. The Illinois EPA also an interactive map with a series of datasets than can also help with preparing the assessment. Upon request, a CWS can seek technical assistance for the Illinois EPA to help develop their source water assessment. Communities can simply use the factsheets, albeit outdated, to fulfill their assessment requirement as well. In addition to IEPA resources, the NWPA has numerous resources that can help a community prepare a SWPP. They have a repository of the latest studies and data on drinking water supplies in northeastern Illinois as well as tools to assist with source water protection and promote best management practices in outdoor water use, sensible salting, and water conservation. The American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) also has a Source Water Protection Operational Guide which is an easy-to-read guide that can help CWSs walk through the SWPP planning process and create an effective plan. IL AWWA even has source water protection committee that can serve a resource as CWSs prepare their SWPP. The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) will be conducting a regional assessment of sandstone water levels throughout Northeastern Illinois starting on August 16, 2021 and extending into October. The goal of this project is to create a synopsis or “snapshot” of static and pumping water levels at high capacity municipal, industrial, and irrigation sandstone wells throughout a 12-county region. Specifically, the ISWS will visit high-capacity wells open to the St. Peter and Ironton-Galesville sandstones in Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry, Will, and Winnebago Counties.
The ISWS has historically only measured static water levels in sandstone wells during previous synoptic measurements (the last one completed in 2015), however recent research has indicated that understanding pumping levels and specific capacities of production wells is vital in understanding the long-term viability of the sandstone aquifers. In the coming weeks, the ISWS will be contacting municipalities, industries, and other entities with high-capacity wells to schedule a time to visit to take static (non-pumping water levels) at sandstone wells. The ISWS will ask how long it has been since the well ran and request that wells be off for at least an hour prior to taking a static reading. In addition, the ISWS is asking facilities to:
Capturing both static and pumping levels, along with the pumping rate that was occurring at the time of the pumping level measurement, will allow the ISWS to map areas of high and low specific capacities for the sandstone aquifers. This reporting will ultimately help communities to: 1) understand how sandstone levels are changing through time, 2) understand how productivity varies among sandstone wells, and 3) ensure the long-term viability of the sandstone aquifers in the region. If facilities have questions prior to the start of this project, please contact one of the following hydrogeologists at the ISWS: Daniel Hadley [email protected] 217-300-0402 Daniel Abrams [email protected] 217-244-1520 Drought on the Horizon
Last month the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its latest Climate Normals – a decennial analysis of U.S. weather over three decades (1991 – 2020). This snapshot provides a more accurate reflection of what is considered ‘normal’ weather amid a rapidly changing climate. According to NOAA, the average annual temperature in Illinois has increased by about 1 degree Fahrenheit since the beginning of the 20th century. By the end of this century, temperatures are expected to rise 7 to 12 degrees. The Illinois Water Inventory Program (IWIP) develops and maintains a database of high-capacity water wells and intakes from public water supplies, self-supplied industries, irrigation, fish and wildlife, and conservation sectors. But they do much more than collect data. Participation and involvement with IWIP pays dividends for operators, stakeholders, and users alike.
IWIP coordinates reporting and data collection on high-capacity water wells and intakes statewide, which are defined as any well or intake that is rated to pump 70 gallons per minute (gpm) or greater, both individually and as a combined measure when multiple wells/intakes are present at one facility. This collection is done primarily through IWIP’s Online Reporting Tool and covers groundwater and surface water uses. As more residents are staying at home in response to the coronavirus, some utilities may be seeing an increase in residential water use. As the pandemic drags on, it’s easy to imagine residents spending more time in their gardens and lawns – which could result in an increase in outdoor water use. Under more normal circumstances, approximately one third of household water use is devoted to outdoor watering, and as much as 50 percent of that water is wasted due to unwise and wasteful watering behavior. Given these conditions, it’s a good time to review strategies to promote wise outdoor water use as the summer months approach.
The Metropolitan Planning Council debuted their latest report, Water Affordability in Northeastern Illinois, with a presentation and Q&A session at the February TAC meeting. The report examined the nuances around water affordability and pricing.
Water rates in Northeastern Illinois have gone up 80% over the past 10 years with many contributing factors, notably the need to replace aging water and sewer infrastructure. The report looked at different methods to measure affordability and water burden and tried to ask the question if unaffordable rates were an income inequality issue, a water pricing issue, or both. WaterSense, a voluntary partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is both a label for water-efficient products and a resource for helping you save water.
WaterSense partners are ambassadors spreading the water-efficiency message. Becoming a WaterSense partner is free and offers exclusive member-only resources, networking opportunities, and branding. The NWPA encourages all member communities to become WaterSense partners. 26 NWPA member municipalities, including Aurora, Elgin, St. Charles, and Sugar Grove are already active partners. The partners-only resources page features collateral and outreach materials that are fully customizable for communicating initiatives to the public, the media, and stakeholders. Pharmaceuticals find their way into the drinking water supply in numerous ways, including but not limited to septic systems, landfills, and fertilization.
Contaminants of emerging concern are chemicals that have been discovered in the environment with no current regulatory standard to control them. Recently identified and discovered due to advances in science, these chemicals are concerning because their impacts on water quality, aquatic life, and human health are still unknown. The most well-known of these chemicals are classified as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
What are PFAS? PFAS are a group of 3,000 to 4,000 chemicals that have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries dating back to the 1940’s. The chemicals are persistent and accumulate over time, and there is evidence of negative health impacts from PFAS on humans and animals. PFAS are found in everyday consumer goods – generally speaking, anything that is water resistant, heat-proof, or stain resistant includes PFAS. Historically, the largest source of PFAS exposure is from firefighting foam which was used most frequently at and around airports. Most people have been exposed to PFAS, but not necessarily at the elevated levels that are concerning. When tested, PFAS has been found in 97% of tested human blood samples. However, there is no large-scale sampling effort currently underway for PFAS in the United States. |
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