
				Pat Quinn, Governor

Agency Links

Info Centers

To report
environmental
emergencies
only, call the
Illinois Emergency
Management Agency
800-782-7860
217-782-7860
(24 hrs/day)

Environmental Progress - Autumn 1996

Pay Attention! You're Walking on Water

Illinois EPA and Department of Transportation join forces in new program to call attention to the essential resources underground

More than half the community water supplies providing Illinois users with drinking water rely on groundwater, the vast invisible reservoirs trapped in the cracks and crannies of the state's numerous aquifers. Though out-of-sight, these resources are not immune to impacts from human activities that can allow contamination to percolate down into the underground water supplies.

To remind communities that the water they may drink next week is just below their feet today, the Illinois EPA and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) have joined forces in a new program to call attention to protecting these vulnerable areas.

To date, 24 communities have elected to join the public education program

So far, 24 communities have signed up to erect signs on state and Interstate routes at the points where the roads enter or leave their drinking water supply protection areas. The areas were mapped either by the communities being served by public water supplies, or by the Illinois EPA.

Signs have long been used in the United States and Europe as educational tools. Placing signs at public facilities or along roadways heightens awareness of recharge areas and watersheds and serves to educate the public to the need for prompt notification when accidental releases of contaminants occur.

The green and white metal signs are being manufactured and installed by IDOT. Sign-up for the program will be offered yearly. Communities interested in enrolling in the protection program should contact Richard Cobb, manager of the Groundwater Section for the Illinois EPA at 217-785-4787, or by writing the Illinois EPA Groundwater Section #13, P.O. Box 19276, Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276.