The number of people
will rise, but the water available will remain the same - putting a squeeze on supplies.
Outlying towns will
feel the brunt of the problem first. Unable to draw water from Lake Michigan, they instead must tap into underground pools
called aquifers.
Sand and gravel make
up some aquifers and lie no more than 100 feet below ground. Some aquifers form in layers of bedrock, up to 1,200 feet down.
Nature alone refills
these aquifers. Rain falls and the ground absorbs the water, which trickles down into sand or rock.
Towns sink wells into
these pools and pump the water up.
A century ago, when
the first wells poked area aquifers, no pump was needed. When first tapped, aquifers would spew water 30 feet into the air.
"Now after a century
of use, that water level is 600 to 700 feet below land's surface," says Allen Wehrmann, director of the center for groundwater
science at the Illinois State Water Survey.
With water use increasing
as the population swells, water levels will continue to fall -from a few inches a year to a few feet depending on location.
"They're pulling it
out faster than they can recharge," says Harry Hendrickson, former head of groundwater education for the Illinois Department
of Natural Resources.
Think last summer
was bad, when the drought sparked water restrictions?
"The water demands
we're seeing now because of the dry weather could be a normal demand we see in a wet year in 30 years," Wehrmann said. "And
then what do you do when you have a dry year?"
Only when drought
reaches out and touches homeowners, or when water bills go up, do water discussions dot government meetings.
Either those discussions
continue to flow, or the water in long-term won't, warn experts who've been studying water availability in Chicago's collar
counties.
Supply and demand
The math is simple.
Today, 7 million people
live in the six-county northeastern Illinois region.
They use 630 million
gallons of water per day, or 90 gallons of water per person per day -average use of all Americans, according to the U.S. Geological
Survey.
In 2020, population
forecasts show the six-county region hitting 9æmillion people.
If the average holds,
they'll use 810 million gallons of water each and every day.
Statistically, there
will be enough water overall to accommodate that demand.
Realistically, however,
the distribution of growth and existing water sources won't match up. Many towns, because of money, geography or federal limits,
can't tap into Lake Michigan.
That means they must
rely on the water down below - which will be in short supply as soon as 2020, according to a Northeastern Illinois Planning
Commission study.
Kane and McHenry counties
sit in the bull's-eye of water worries because they're chiefly reliant on well Among the townships at risk are Batavia, Dundee,
Geneva, Rutland and St. Charles in Kane County, and Algonquin and Grafton in McHenry County.
Some spots in DuPage,
Lake and Will counties could run into some of the same shortages, experts say.
Naperville Township
in DuPage County, Hanover and Rich townships in Cook County, and DuPage and Joliet townships in Will County could be in jeopardy.
The communities in
Cook and Lake counties now drinking Lake Michigan water, however, shouldn't think they have no worries.
The rate at which
outlying areas tap into aquifers ultimately affects how fast Lake Michigan gets replenished.
"It's like a ripple
effect," warns state Sen. Susan Garrett, a Democrat from Lake Forest who has been sounding the alarm in Springfield about
long-term water shortages for several years.
The bull's-eye
McHenry County's Groundwater
Resources Management Plan predicts the county's population growth, and corresponding surge in water demand, will rise 73æpercent,
to about 63 million gallons per day, by 2030.
While there's enough
groundwater in the county as a whole to yield 120 million gallons per day, the report warns certain townships may be in trouble
given that the distribution of water usage won't correspond to the water supply.
Algonquin, Grafton
and McHenry townships were named in the report as in need of monitoring for water shortages by 2030, and Dorr, Nunda and Burton
townships were considered to be areas of growing concern.
The future of Kane
County's water supply also has been cast in a stark light, though a comprehensive account of its situation still is under
way.
Kane County commissioned
a five-year study to map the availability of water underground and calculate the future demands of the region. The report
by the Illinois State Water and Geological Surveys is due out next year.
"The geological study
will enable us to literally take slices of the county in any direction - north, south, east, west," said Paul Schuch, Kane
County's director of water resources. That, in turn, can help guide future growth in the county.
Lake not immune
Because so much of
Lake County sips water from Lake Michigan, many residents there may feel like water shortages can't affect them.
Philip J. Rovang,
Lake County's director of planning, building and development doesn't sound so certain.
About 40 percent of
the county draws water from Lake Michigan, but whether enough water exists below ground for the other 60 percent is unclear.
"We project that by
the year 2020, there's going to be 280,000 residents living in western Lake County who will have to rely on non-Lake Michigan
water," Rovang says.
That doesn't bode
well for the county, since some officials are concerned certain aquifers are already being overtaxed.
A study of water availability
is due out in a few years. It will provide a much clearer picture of what to expect.
"As soon as the results
of the studies start coming in, then we can start reacting," Rovang says.
The water supply could
also impact future job growth.
The county estimates
71,000 jobs will come to the county by 2020, a 20 percent increase, but that won't happen if there isn't an ample supply of
"This is really a critical issue facing Lake County from an economic development standpoint," Rovang warns. "If we cannot
guarantee a water supply to a future business, they're not going to come here."
Outlook dismal
While projecting future
water problems is an imperfect science, the decline in well levels is more measurable proof that groundwater aquifers are
under stress.
DuPage County suffered
a steady drop in well levels before most of its towns switched to Lake Michigan water in the 1990s. Over 80 years, the water
table in the county dropped 700 to 800 feet.
Since Lake Michigan
saved the day by largely relieving DuPage of its dependence on groundwater, the well levels have climbed, but "it's not coming
up as quickly as anticipated," Hendrickson said.
That could be because
so much of the land is paved over, making it more difficult for rain and snow to soak into the ground and recharge aquifers.
According to Hendrickson,
about 24 percent of DuPage County has been paved over, and "eastern Kane County is headed that way."
People who manage
wells see it, too.
Former Huntley Utilities
Superintendent Will Smith said some wells don't pump as much water as they used to, and the water levels are slipping.
"Every year they drop
down 10 to 15 feet," Smith said.
Experts mean to sound
the alarm, but not raise a panic. The future is manageable, they say, as long as communities start planning now.
"Our populations are
getting to the point where we are reaching the (the end of) easy availability to draw water," said Larry Thomas of the Crystal
Lake engineering firm Baxter and Woodman. "Now we have to start thinking about how we're going to allocate the water, how
we're going to fairly distribute the water.
