Work set to begin on well system
By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@nwherald.com
A more accurate picture of McHenry County’s groundwater resources will begin to take shape Monday with the roar of a drill.
Work starts this week to drill a countywide network of monitoring wells so county planners have a better idea of where the county’s groundwater assets are and how much water they can provide.
When finished in the next six weeks or so, the network will help a groundwater task force determine best management practices, county Water Resource Manager Cassandra McKinney said.
“In order to further our groundwater planning efforts in the county, it’s important to have the science and the numbers to support the work we’re doing,” McKinney said.
The $590,000 project, half of which is federally funded, will install a cluster of monitoring wells at varying depths in each of the county’s 17 townships on land owned by the county, the townships, and the McHenry County Conservation District.
Drilling the well network is one of two projects that will provide county and city planners with water data.
The Illinois State Geological Survey last Monday began a three-year project to create a three-dimensional map of the county’s aquifers and surrounding materials. The county has paid $59,741 for the first year and is applying for federal funding to help cover the remaining $96,154, McKinney said.
The data from both surveys could prove useful, especially given projections that water demand in McHenry County could outstrip supply if development continues unchecked.
A study released in July by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning concluded that the county’s water use could jump 60 percent to 64.7 million gallons a day by 2050, while a 2005 study commissioned by the county predicted that it could hit that amount by 2030.
Studies also warn of potential water shortages in Algonquin and Grafton townships, with demand equaling supply in Burton, Dorr and Nunda townships.
McKinney and the county assembled a task force of governments, residents and interest groups that are working to develop a non-binding management plan to help conserve water resources. Their report likely will be finished by next summer.
Vernon Hills-based STS Consultants is supervising the well network installation. The company previously had been hired by Modine Manufacturing Co. to track groundwater contamination from its Ringwood plant, which had been blamed in several 2006 lawsuits for brain cancer cases in neighboring McCullom Lake. Modine settled out of court this year.
