The Illinois EPA recognizes the essential and pervasive role
of groundwater in the social and economic well-being of the people
of Illinois, and its vital importance to the general health,
safety and welfare. State policy holds that groundwater resources
should be utilized for beneficial and legitimate purposes, that
waste and degradation of the resources should be prevented, and
that underground water resources should be managed to allow for
maximum benefit of the people of Illinois.
In support of these goals the IEPA conducts a groundwater protection
program with a mission of restoring, protecting and enhancing
the state's groundwater as a natural and public resource. The
program derives much of its program authority from the Illinois
Groundwater Protection Act (IGPA) that emphasizes a prevention-oriented
process.
The IGPA is a comprehensive law that relies on a state and
local partnership, and was the first approved in Region 5 by
U.S. EPA under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Though the
IGPA is directed toward protection of groundwater as a natural
and public resource, special provisions target drinking water
wells.
Illinois' groundwater policy sets the framework for management
of groundwater as a vital resource. The program focuses upon
uses of the resource and establishes statewide protection measures
directed toward potable water wells. In addition, local governments
and citizens are provided an opportunity to perform an important
role for groundwater protection in Illinois.
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