Environmental Progress - Spring 2002

Environmental Progress : Spring 2002

State Executive Order Makes Water Quantity A Top Priority

Joins water quality as a top target for water regulations

Recognizing growing concern about continued availability of clean and adequate sources of water for Illinois residents, Gov. George H. Ryan on Earth Day signed an executive order requiring development of a Water Quantity Planning Program. The order calls for creation of a group charged with identifying the extent of the state's water resources, analyzing current drains on these resources, and developing an agenda for protecting and conserving them.

The plan is an outgrowth of recommendations by the Governor's office, the Groundwater Advisory Council, the Illinois EPA, the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Groundwater (ICCG) and various interest groups. Under the executive order, the ICCG will designate a subcommittee to develop an integrated groundwater and surface water resources agenda and assessment report. The subcommittee will be chaired by the director of the Department of Natural Resources. The subcommittee's report will provide a foundation on which state water-quantity planning procedures will be implemented.

Components of the planning procedure will be

• a coordinated groundwater-surface water resource program to make water quantity information accessible and useable by governmental agencies and the public;
• formation of priority water-quantity planning areas based on a statewide groundwater and surface water resource program, and
• a statewide program to identify and recommend an appropriate organizational structure for priority water-quantity planning areas.

Water quality a long time priority target to IEPA

Protection of water quality has been a priority effort of the Illinois EPA since it was formed in 1970. A recent Gallup Poll indicates that water issues topped the list of public concerns nationwide, and growth in some areas of the state has focused attention to the pressure placed on the balance of availability and demand for water by a growing population, agriculture, energy production and critical ecosystems.

A recent report by the North-eastern Illinois Planning Commission noted that the Chicago metropolitan region lies adjacent to one of the world's largest freshwater sources, Lake Michigan, but the region faces potential water supply shortages. That potential for shortage is linked to laws that limit Lake Michigan water withdrawals, the need to maintain baseflow in rivers and streams, and limits to groundwater replenishment by the quantity of recharge available.