Lake Zurich consultant: Local ground water level projected to decline
Local ground water levels are projected to decline, according to a contractor tasked with studying whether the village should get its water from Lake Michigan.
Stephen T. Dennison, a senior project manager for Sugar Grove-based Engineering Enterprises Inc., said the deep water aquifer, which is used by nearly every area municipality not connected to Lake Michigan water, is currently adequate for the village's use.
"Moving forward, the projection is there will be a decline in the water levels," Dennison said of the aquifer at a village board meeting Monday. "Not a significant decline as to make it unsustainable for the foreseeable future, but it's really highly dependable on regional development."
During his presentation to the board, Dennison showed how throughout the 1960s, '70s and into the early '80s the amount of water in the aquifer went down as the suburbs were developed. Then, in the late 1980s and '90s, many suburban villages began switching to Lake Michigan water and the aquifer began to recover.
The health of the aquifer is one of many areas the contractor is investigating as part of a $140,000 study the village engaged in November. The village's water is provided by six deep aquifer wells. Officials hope the survey will help them determine whether the wells remain a viable long-term solution.
The presentation Monday night was the community's first look at the information the contractors have gathered. The contractors project the village's population to grow from about 20,000 residents currently to around 24,000 residents in 2050. The population increase means the village will use more water in 30 years than it does today.
The presentation was the first of four regular updates the contactor plans to give to the board.
Dennison said the group will present next on the future of the village's water treatment system and the options available for getting hooked up to Lake Michigan water if the board decides to go that way in the future.
The village was prompted to act in December 2019 when Lake County officials requested Lake Zurich make plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the levels of radium in the village's waste water.
According to the Illinois Department of Health, radium is often found in groundwater in the northern third of the state, but it is more rarely found in the deep water wells such as those used by Lake Zurich. Radium may pose a hazard to human health when the water is used for drinking or cooking.
In Lake Zurich's case, the radium the county identified is in waste water, not drinking water.
Village Manager Ray Keller said in November the village wasn't able to hire a consultant to study the problem sooner because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the enormity of the task. Keller said it took staff members a while to find a firm that could advise whether it was better to invest in new treatment processes or switch to Lake Michigan water, which doesn't require radium treatment.
In addition to the six deep aquifer wells, the village's current system includes five water treatment plants, two water towers and 113 miles of water main pipe.