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McLean keeping eye on water with aquifer drawing interest
By M.K. Guetersloh
mkguetersloh@pantagraph.com
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TREMONT — If the Mahomet Aquifer becomes a major source for a regional water supply in Central Illinois, officials from the village of McLean want to know about it.

Village officials, regional planners, farmers and environmentalists were among about 30 people attending a meeting Tuesday in Tremont about a new study of water supplies, including the aquifer, for a 15-county area in Central Illinois.

“We are concerned about our water,” said McLean Mayor James Adams. “We want to make sure we are included in this study.”

“And if Bloomington or someone starts drawing out of the aquifer, we want to make sure we aren’t left with what remains,” added village trustee Dick McMann.

The East Central Illinois Regional Water Supply Planning Committee’s study involves the Mahomet Aquifer Consortium and state water agencies.

It is one of two pilot programs in the state to determine how much water the state will need over the next several decades and where the water will be. The second study being conducted covers the Chicago area.

The study was mandated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2006, and Ed Glatfelter from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said it will be completed in 2009.

“The idea behind this is to determine what we will need in water, inventory our water sources and pinpoint where we have conflicts or shortages,” Glatfelter said.

If the study can find where shortages are anticipated in 40 years, work can begin now to address finding and conserving water.

Both types of general water sources — underground, such as the aquifer, and surface water, such as rivers and lakes — will be included in the study, said Susan Licher from Wittman Hydro Planning. The Bloomington, Ind.-based engineering firm is conducting the study.

That dovetails with the chief concerns of the village of McLean and whether the growth of Bloomington will affect how much water is pulled from the aquifer, which is the village’s water supply.

The study of the aquifer is the topic of several regional meetings this week. The two remaining meetings are scheduled for 1 p.m. today at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Havana and 1 p.m. Thursday at Vespasian Warner Public Library in Clinton.

In the early 1990s, the city of Bloomington started its work on studying the aquifer as a potential water supply to supplement Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake, which were hit hard by drought in the late 1980s. The city is working to develop a regional water supply that will draw water from the aquifer at wells likely built on the west side of McLean County.

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Reader comments on this story - 5 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Bloomington-Normal wrote on Aug 31, 2007 6:56 AM:

" All your base are belong to us "

To prediction wrote on Aug 22, 2007 4:30 PM:

" By we win, you mean Bloomington. "

Prediction wrote on Aug 22, 2007 1:33 PM:

" All smaller communities are welcome to be involved in this study. We then will split the study amount as per population. Once again we win. "

Native wrote on Aug 22, 2007 12:36 PM:

" Yes in the 90s Bloomington wanted to do a "water study" when tha small communities in Tazewell County refused to go along. Bloomington went to Springfield and the state did the study drilling test wells across Tazewell County, and gave the small communities no choice. Now they are doing it again. Bloomington wants to control all the water sources for over 25 miles around them. Sounds like a good deal, we will take your water and then sell it back to you at a higher rate. Sounds like somthing out of Russia., "

Mac Daddy wrote on Aug 22, 2007 11:05 AM:

" It sounds silly now, but dam the Kickapoo about 4.5 miles west of Heyworth as most of the farmground in the Kickapoo basin will be mined for gravel anyway. There is a natural "bowl" that would encompass about 2000-3000 acres which would be great for a lake. If the Village of McLean, Heyworth, McLean County and the IDNR would get together on this could benefit the water supply issue, provide an excellent source fishing and bring in additional businesses in Heyworth or McLean which would provide revenue to these communities and schools. With the growth of Bloomington-Normal, the smaller communities should be proactive, so they do not get "swallowed up" by the larger ones with a different agenda. "
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