Barrington area water quality partnership forming

To make sure their recreational lakes are still around in years to come, the Barrington Area Conservation Trust is forming the Tower Lakes Drain Watershed Partnership, a coalition with municipalities and homeowners associations to study lakes in and around Lake Barrington, Tower Lakes, North Barrington, Port Barrington, Hawthorn Woods and other municipalities.

“There is concern for declining quality of the recreational lakes,” the trust's executive director, Karen Yancey, said Thursday. “We want to be proactive.”

Continual development in the area has led to sediment filling up the lakes, which include Timber Lake, Tower Lakes, Lake Barrington and Lake Fairview. Yancey also said water quality has been reduced because of fertilizer and other pollutants.

Long term, the partnership will look to restore ecological health of the lakes. The trust will meet with various groups in June to discuss and combine forces.

“The initial discussions have been good,” Yancey said.

The trust is also applying for two grants — one through the Lake County Stormwater Management Commissionto help form the partnership, and the other through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to fund a watershed study, which will provide recommendations for improvement. There is no set amount yet because the trust is still researching and getting cost estimates.

The trust initiated the move for a partnership after it began trying to acquire a key parcel of Tower Lakes Drain, Yancey said. She didn't reveal the location of the land, but said the acquisition won't be completed until late this year.

The trust is also concerned about the impact of the Dimucci proposal, a controversial plan to rezone more than 100 acres near the area for commercial development.

Yancey believes the proposal will increase traffic and density in the area and that there will be more stormwater runoff that will affect the watershed.

An initial meeting of partners will be in August or September, Yancey said.