Environmental Progress - Summer 2004

DuPage Public Water Supply Hookups

Nearly 1,000 downers Grove well owners helped

On August 16, Illinois EPA Director Renee Cipriano joined officials of DuPage County and state and federal lawmakers to celebrate the completion of hookups to a public water supply for nearly 1,000 residents of the Downers Grove area whose private wells were potentially contaminated by industrial solvents.

Although Illinois EPA has no regulatory authority or jurisdiction over private wells, the agency's staff and expertise were provided to citizens to address their concerns. Working with DuPage County and Downers Grove, several IEPA teams painstakingly identified more than 800 private wells for sampling and tested more than 500 of them, the largest such effort in the Agency's history. At the same time, IEPA attorneys worked with the Attorney General's Office and U.S. EPA to initiate enforcement actions against local industries and other potentially responsible parties.

IEPA's extensive sampling and public outreach efforts also included the formation of the Governor's Action Team in 2001 to make sure local officials and citizens were intimately involved in identifying problems and being part of the solution.

The joint investigation with U.S. EPA became something of a scientific detective story as the groundwater impacts of industrial solvents in the Lisle and Downers Grove area were traced through their plumes.

As a result of the investigation, a number of changes were integrated into IEPA's cleanup programs and public notification efforts to further recognize the presence of remaining private water supply wells.

In 2002, IEPA worked with State Rep. Patti Bellock and other lawmakers to pass legislation requiring the Illinois Department of Public Health and county health departments, which have jurisdiction over private wells, to notify owners in areas where potential public water supply contamination has been identified by IEPA.

In addition, private well survey guidance is now being used by all IEPA cleanup programs to make sure investigation work on sites with potential groundwater contamination impacts is consistent.

Director Cipriano also worked with lawmakers to obtain state funding to help make the connections to the public water supply more affordable for residents and U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert secured federal funding as well.

A Contaminant Evaluation Group has been formed to use GIS information and other scientific data to ensure that potential groundwater impacts are evaluated and drinking water supply operators are notified.

IEPA is also currently working on new proposed regulations to strengthen the voluntary Site Remediation Program for industrial and commercial site cleanups, to include more community relations outreach requirements and identify private water supplies near cleanup sites.

A variety of useful information for homeowners is now available on the Agency web site including the new Drinking Water Web Portal that allows direct access to water monitoring data for community water supplies, and the Source Water Assessment (SWAP) database.

Illinois EPA also provided DuPage County with suggested detailed scientific protocols and strategies for representative private well sampling and assessment to further analyze potential contamination threats to the estimated more than 30,000 private wells in the county.