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1 LakeCounty Department of Public Works WATER SUPPLY RESOURCES IN LAKE COUNTY County Green Presentation May 17, 2012

2 LakeCounty The Lake County Public Works Department was originally formed in 1964 to provide regional sanitary sewer and water service to various service areas throughout Lake County. The Department owns and operates 12 separate water systems, 4 water reclamation facilities, and 5 regional sewer systems. Lake County Public Works is the County s only Enterprise Fund and is funded solely by revenue generated from connection fees and user fees of its customers. Annual Operating Revenue = $40 million 96 Full Time Employees

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4 The Public Works Department operates and maintains significant infrastructure used in the treatment and delivery of potable water to our 12 public water supply systems, including: 20,000 water service meters 28 groundwater wells 8 elevated water towers 10 ground storage reservoirs 4 Lake Michigan water delivery structures 289 miles of watermain 3,684 fire hydrants 3,706 valve structures

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6 Water Supply Sources Lake Michigan Water Supply 70% of Lake County Water source for 3 County systems Water is provided by the CLCJAWA Groundwater Supply 30 % of Lake County Water source for 9 County systems Water pumped from shallow wells sand and gravel aquifers (< 300 Ft) Water pumped from deep wells deep rock aquifers (± 1000 Ft)

7 Groundwater Supply Challenges Uncertain future of groundwater availability. Aquifers have limited capacities and are susceptible to over-pumping. Susceptible to both natural and man made contamination, increased testing and reporting requirements. Regional pumpage from deep rock aquifer exceeds the recharge capacity of formations and water levels in these wells are declining. Water quality varies significantly depending on location with high hardness and iron concentrations, natural contaminates of radium and barium, sulfates, leaking underground tanks, land fills, road salt and other sources of pollutants. Treatment of groundwater to remove contaminates is becoming increasingly expensive and results in by products that have disposal issues.

8 Groundwater Studies and Findings County commissioned groundwater experts to evaluate existing ground water supplies and summarize opinions on long term viability as public water supply. Baxter & Woodman Inc. prepared Groundwater Supply Planning White Papers for a number of NW Lake communities including County s Grandwood Park and Fox Lake Hills systems. White Papers identified several concerns with the continued use of groundwater supply. The shallow sand and gravel aquifers in the area have the potential to be contaminated with heavy metals and chemicals from local sources. Shallow sand and gravel aquifer is currently overpumped during high demand periods, as evidenced by declining water levels and interference between the wells. The water levels in the deep sandstone aquifers are dropping. Population growth to the west and north will accelerate the rates of decline. Pumpage from the deep sandstone aquifers at ever high rates is not sustainable over the long term. The radium and barium found in the deep well water will cause operational and compliance issues with both water treatment and waste disposal.

9 Groundwater Supply Prognosis Continued use of groundwater may be useable in the short term if wells can retain their rate of production, however there remain the long-term issues that will make the use of this resource significantly less reliable and more expensive than it is currently. The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) conclude that, studies of the highly sensitive groundwater situation in northeastern Illinois and the effect of the shift of many suburbs to use lake water found that the water demands of suburbs still relying on remaining groundwater supplies in Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois would exceed the sustainable yield of major aquifers in the next 15 or 20 years. (Winstanley, 2006) Higher levels of required treatment should be anticipated in the future based on the increasing chloride concentrations in the shallow aquifers and the potential for the wells to be contaminated by human activities as the area further develops.

10 Water Supply Trends IEPA regulates all public water systems in the state and is systematically requiring owners to bring their systems into compliancy with current standards. Many systems require additional wells, abandonment of underground tanks, emergency backup power, replacement of distribution lines, additional storage and other improvements at significant cost. System improvements have resulted in significant rate increases from smaller stand-alone systems. County systems that have undergone significant upgrades including; Countryside Manor, Hawthorn Woods/Glennshire, Forest Lake, and Herons Landing. Trend is to replace current groundwater supplied water systems with Lake Michigan supplied systems whenever possible or practical.

11 Water Supply Alternatives Serious efforts have been underway for several years to seek long term sources of water to replace groundwater uses. Surface water supply from rivers and inland lakes is not a practical option. Lake Michigan water supply has been identified as one of the most cost effective long term solutions for future water supply. Northwest Lake County Lake Michigan Water Planning Group 9 communities have received water allocations from IDNR Currently investigated best delivery options Possible formation of new Joint Action Water Agency or joining current CLCJAWA are options 90% of project cost is in long delivery pipeline Extension of Lake Michigan Water is underway to select areas of Long Grove and Mettawa. Studies underway to examine extension of Lake Michigan water to systems in Arden Shores, Pekara and Mettawa.

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