Group works to improve Des Plaines River quality
Libertyville and Lincolnshire have become the latest Lake County communities to contribute funds to a consortium of entities working to improve water quality in the Des Plaines River.
Village officials this week authorized a membership fee of $14,488 for Libertyville and $1,847 for Lincolnshire for the Des Plaines River Watershed Workgroup, a voluntary, dues paying organization. More than a year in the making, the group is considered an alternate to potentially costly state-imposed upgrades to treatment facilities or more stringent permits.
"The genesis was that regulations related to stormwater, as well as wastewater discharge throughout Illinois and the United States for that matter, have become more stringent," said John Heinz, Libertyville public works director and secretary of the group. "We felt that banding together as a group would be a good way to combine efforts and save costs."
According to the group, portions of the river, as well as lakes and streams that feed into it, have been identified by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency as being impaired with phosphorous, chloride and other pollutants that enter the tributaries through pipes and runoff.
The Des Plaines River watershed in Lake County covers about 200 square miles and spans 33 communities, 12 townships and two drainage districts. Every day, eight publicly owned treatment plants discharge about 80 million gallons of treated wastewater into the river.
Instead of imposing costly upgrades, the agency is allowing groups across the state, such as the DuPage River Salt Creek Workgroup, to address water quality issues locally. Upgrading treatment plants to remove phosphorous, for example, may not be the most cost-effective way to solve the problem, said Andrea Cline, coordinator for the group.
"It's very costly. That would translate into rate increases for all the residents who use those services," Cline said.
In Lake County, communities within the Des Plaines River watershed along with environmental groups, consultants or concerned citizens are or will be part of the organization.
About 18 entities have submitted letters of intent, according to Cline.
The idea is to monitor water quality and create strategies to make improvements based on scientific data.
"It will take money to fix the Des Plaines water quality problem one way or another, so let's spend it in a cost-effective manner in which we have local control to fix our water quality problems," according to the group's website.
Dues are based on total drainage area and other factors. Total contributions are estimated at about $308,000.
The dues will be used to develop a watershed monitoring program as the basis of improvements, and to pay technical and administrative costs. A variety of data from 45 monitoring stations will be collected in hopes of identifying potential improvements. That plan is being finalized.
"We think we'll really be able to wrap our arms around `What are the issues in the watershed?' and start addressing them," Heinz said. The eventual result would be cleaner water and improved habitat for plants and animals, he added.