Forum raises flags about McHenry County water

McHenry County residents, community leaders and conservation experts met Saturday to discuss one of the county's most valuable resources -- water.

The forum, called "What's Your Water IQ?" was at McHenry County College and sponsored by the Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Midwestern advocacy and conservation group.

The forum's goals were to raise awareness of the need for conservation in McHenry County and to discuss what residents and governments can do to help.

"We are completely dependent on our underground aquifers for drinking water," said McHenry County Water Resource Manager Cassandra McKinney.

McKinney explained that sprawling development in the county puts increased strain on the groundwater supply while simultaneously paving over the open space that normally absorbs rainwater and returns it to the aquifers.

"What you see around McHenry every day is more houses going up," McKinney said.

"We're hurting our supply when we pave over soil, which should act as a sponge," McKinney said, "and we're increasing demand at the same time."

Speakers at the forum explained the scale of the problem. The county's water use is expected to increase 86 percent by 2030, leading to shortages, particularly in fast-growing Algonquin and Grafton Townships.

Finding solutions was more complicated. Speakers offered tips for saving water at home, and community groups discussed their proposals to address the problem through political action.

Tim Loftus of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, a government agency that studies land use in northeastern Illinois, suggested smart water management could reduce the impact of the region's rapid growth.

"It's not so much a water scarcity issue as that we're much more wasteful than we need to be," Loftus said.

"We can look around the country and see other cities that have grown like gangbusters, as we have, but have managed to keep their water use flat or even had it decline."