The document discusses water resource challenges facing McHenry County, Illinois. Population growth is expected to double the county's water usage by 2030, potentially causing shortages as early as 2020. The county relies solely on groundwater but faces challenges protecting it. In response, the county created a Water Resources Manager position and developed a comprehensive Water Resources Action Plan through cooperative planning. The plan aims to ensure a sustainable water supply for current and future generations. The county is also undertaking scientific research to support the plan and informed decision making.

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3. EVAPORATION TRANSPIRATION CONDENSATION PRECIPITATION RUNOFF INFILTRATION GROUNDWATER SURFACE WATER WETLANDS/FENS Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

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5. 60% of your body 70% of your brain 80% of your blood Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

7. You can’t survive one week without water! Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

9. http://www.ienearth.org/water.html http://flowingdata.com/2010/04/01/discuss-drinkable-water-in-the-world/ Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

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13. Overuse Irrigation Impervious Surfaces Urban Sprawl Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

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16. Water Quality & Quantity Concerns

19. Year Million gallons per day 34.6 51 67.5 120 160 180 LRI Projected Use ~ Sustainable Yield MRI Projected Use Max Comprehensive Plan LRI – less resource intensive MRI – more resource intensive Projected population growth of ~200,000 by 2030 Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

20. Municipal Water Supplies 40 km Water Supply: 100% Groundwater ~60% Sand and Gravel Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

21. McHenry County Water Supply Projections Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

25. Integrated Water Resources 7 Step Planning Process Integrated Water Resource Planning (Palmer and Lundberg 2003) Identify Problems and Opportunities Create a Planning Team Inventories and Forecasting Formulating Alternative Plans Evaluating Alternative Plans Ranking Alternative Plans Plan Implementation Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

34. Geologic Core Drilling Drilling Geophysics Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

35. Visualization topography

36. Visualization roads

37. Visualization soils

38. Visualization Geology/field

39. Visualization Aerial photos Prairieview Education Center Route 176 Behan Road

40. Visualization subsurface

41. McHenry County Bedrock Surface Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All Other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

42. McHenry County Lowermost Sand/Gravel Aquifer Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All Other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

43. McHenry County Oldest glacial till non-aquifer Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All Other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

44. McHenry County Middle Sand/Gravel Aquifer Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All Other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

45. McHenry County Major non-aquifer confining unit in the County (Tiskilwa Till) Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

46. McHenry County Minor non-aquifer confining unit (Yorkville till) Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

47. McHenry County Major shallow aquifer unit Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

48. McHenry County Major shallow mixed aquifer/non-aquifer unit Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

49. McHenry County Modern shallow aquifer/non aquifer materials-youngest stuff Key: Yellow units are aquifer units All Other colors are non-aquifer units – usually tills.

50. Example: Detailed 3D Hydrogeologic Mapping in Lake County, IL Central Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition Project, ISGS Jason Thomason, Ardith Hansel, Mike Barnhardt, Barb Stiff, Steve Brown, Andy Stumpf Note : yellows (sand and gravel; aquifers) greens and purples (clay rich units; aquitards) Bedrock Land Surface Cassandra McKinney WaterCon2011

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65. Questions? “ We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

66. Cassandra McKinney Water Resources Manager - Division of Water Resources McHenry County Government 2200 N. Seminary Avenue Woodstock, IL 60098-2637 Phone: (815) 334-4213, Fax: (815) 338-3991 clmckinney@co.mchenry.il.us www.mchenryh2o.com

67. ABSTRACT Over the past two decades, McHenry County, Illinois has been one of the fastest growing counties in the State of Illinois. In addition, the County is solely dependent on groundwater for its drinking water resource, with no other options available. From 2000 to 2030, McHenry County’s population (current population 310,000) is expected to grow by 190,000. In the year 2000, water use in the county amounted to an annual average of 34.6 million gallons per day (mgd). By 2030, average annual water use is estimated to almost double to 67.5 mgd. With this tremendous growth, water shortages are forecasted as early as 2020 in portions of the county and groundwater degradation is already occurring. In addition to groundwater being the only viable drinking water resource for McHenry County, groundwater protection is a challenge because the State of Illinois follows the doctrine of reasonable use. With the absence of statutory authority, counties are unable to enforce groundwater ordinances in areas other than the unincorporated. The impending water shortages and the lack of statutory authority prompted the creation of a Water Resource Manager position to utilize the cooperative planning process to coordinate the development of a multi-faceted, inter-governmental Water Resources Action Plan. People are more likely to support that which they create. Over the past two years, the cooperative planning process undertaken encouraged the involvement of government leaders, regional partners, special interest groups and citizens in the development of a county-wide groundwater protection program. This program uniquely seeks to address quantity and quality in one comprehensive program with the underlying goal “to provide a sustainable and safe water supply for current and future generations, including the built and natural environments.” The Water Resources Action Plan was completed in October 2009 and will assist in assuring our growing population an adequate, sustainable supply of safe water in the future. Finally, the impending water shortages also prompted the county to spearhead further scientific research on the sustainability of the groundwater resource. Therefore, the County has undertaken multiple scientific research projects: Three-dimensional Geological Mapping, Hydrological Flow Modeling, and a Real-time Observation Well Network, to support the Water Resources Action Plan and assist stakeholders in making timely management decisions.