News Releases - 1998

May 21 Field Day Will Promote Groundwater Protection

Springfield, Ill. -- Seventeen state, municipal, health, and environmental groups will join the Northern Regional Groundwater Protection Planning Committee in sponsoring a field day on May 21 to promote groundwater protection.

The fifth annual Winnebago/Boone/McHenry Counties Field Day will kick off at 8 a.m. at the Klehm Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Rockford, 2701 Clifton Ave., with registration, rolls and coffee.

The Northern Regional Committee is made up of representatives of business, community, governmental groups and interested individuals working to provide public education about groundwater protection and to promote pollution prevention activities in the three counties.

The event is open to the public. Registration is $5, payable in advance, and includes lunch.

Following introduction of participants, guest speakers will provide brief overviews of early industrial activities that caused significant environmental impacts to municipal wells in southeast Rockford, the treatment of groundwater contamination in Rockford city wells, the Illinois Brownfields initiative, and stormwater and glycol control at the Greater Rockford Airport. Lunch will be followed by a tour of the Klehm Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.

The afternoon session will feature a bus trip departing at 1 p.m. for a tour of the glycol recovery system and treatment facility at the Greater Rockford airport, and an inspection of the activated charcoal treatment process at Rockford well #35. The event will end at 2:30 p.m.

The field day will coincide with the observance of Groundwater Protection Month in Illinois throughout May. Gov. Jim Edgar recently proclaimed the observance, to heighten public awareness of the importance of this essential natural resource.

Field day sponsors include the health departments of Boone, McHenry and Winnebago counties, the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, Greater Rockford Airport, the legal department and water division of the city of Rockford, the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District, McHenry County Defenders, League of Women Voters, POWER (Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources), the Illinois Association of Groundwater Professionals, the Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the Groundwater Protection Branch of U.S. EPA Region 5, the Illinois Departments of Public Health, Natural Resources, and Agriculture, and the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies.

Reservations can be made through the Boone County Health Department, 601 N. Main St., Suite 101, Belvidere, Ill., 61008, 815-544-2951. Reservation deadline is May 15.