News Releases - 2003

Advisory Group Selected to Oversee Pilot Testing for FPA Overhaul

Springfield, Ill. -- A broad-based 31- member advisory group has been selected to develop and oversee pilot testing of a shift in Illinois water quality protection efforts to a watershed based approach that will ultimately phase-out reliance on the more narrowly focused Facility Planning Areas, Illinois EPA Director Renee Cipriano announced today.

The Basinwide Management Advisory Group will have its first meeting on Monday, Sept. 29, at the Department of Natural Resources headquarters located at One Natural Resources Way, in Springfield. The session will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will be open to the public, though participation will be limited to advisory group members. The group includes representatives of industry, developers, agriculture, governmental bodies, and environmental groups.

"Our own evaluations, and legislation adopted during the recent session of the General Assembly, both identified weaknesses in the current Facility Planning Area process that make it essentially a "piecemeal" approach focused on local wastewater treatment capacity and facilities that serve a localized population,"Director Cipriano said.

The Facility Planning Area program focuses on decisions over wastewater treatment capacity and jurisdiction.

The advisory group's goal will be to develop more comprehensive water quality planning and protection approaches incorporating monitoring, anti-degradation analysis, non-point source pollution control, permitting issues and land use policies. Members will also identify a system to guide implementation of such customized programs within each of the state's 33 watershed basins, create or designate an existing management group to ensure stakeholder involvement within each basin and develop a process that will phase in additional basins to ultimately provide coverage for the entire state.

Development of the advisory group is an outgrowth of two approaches to the often-misunderstood Facility Planning Area process. Early in 2003, the Illinois EPA contracted with a neutral consultant to evaluate the current system. In June, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich signed HB 1250 that requires Illinois EPA to propose rules within the next 12 months that specify a formal process to define boundaries of wastewater treatment areas.

"Both the Governor and I hope that the efforts of the advisory group will set the stage for more effective and efficient watershed protection in the years to come. We are fully committed to developing a watershed planning and protection infrastructure that is fully implemented by 2008,"Director Cipriano said.

In her charge to the group, Director Cipriano noted "for both environmental and economic reasons, this dialogue and any resultant consensus is critical to the State of Illinois."