McHenry County Blog

A press release from the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County:

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS ASSISTING IN GROUNDWATER STUDY

WOODSTOCK – The Environmental Defenders of McHenry County are providing assistance to the Illinois State Water Survey in a study of the County’s groundwater system.

In the 1990’s the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) conducted a study in which the water level in about 600 McHenry County wells was measured. The wells, mostly residential, were located throughout the county and were individually visited by ISWS staff who measured the water level in each well.

This data enabled the ISWS to map the water levels in our sand and gravel aquifers and resulted in the publication, in 1998, of a landmark study titled “Groundwater Studies for Environmental Planning, McHenry County Illinois” by Scott Meyer.

This study greatly increased the understanding of the county’s groundwater resources and served as the basis for much of the later research into the County’s groundwater supply, including that used in preparation of the County’s current Water Resources Action Plan.

Now, the County and the ISWS are in the process of updating the Meyer study.

This appears to be the deep aquifers that were mapped in 1994 by the Illinois Water Survey.

This update will show what changes have occurred in groundwater levels during the past 17 –21 years, and will also enable verification of recent groundwater flow modeling techniques.

To develop the new data, ISWS staff must re-measure the water levels in as many of the 600 previously measured wells as possible.

The measurement is free and can be performed with or without the homeowner present, depending on their preference.

It will take about 15 minutes during which ISWS staff will remove the cap of the well, lower a disinfected steel measuring tape, calculate the water depth, reattach the well cap and replace rusted nuts and bolts as needed.

The ISWS needs to secure permission from well owners, which is a very time consuming process as people have moved and phone numbers have changed.

The Environmental Defenders have volunteered to contact well owners to secure permission for ISWS to measure water levels.

During the next few weeks, Defenders members will be telephoning or hand delivering messages to addresses that previously had well levels measured. For more information, please contact the Defenders’ office at 815-338-0393 or at mcdef@owc.org.

The Environmental Defenders of McHenry County is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and improvement of the environment. The group provides community residents with educational programs and volunteer action on pollution prevention, sustainable land use and energy and natural resource conservation. Donations are encouraged and are tax-deductible as charitable contributions.

The Natural Resources Defense Council provides this map showing counties that will have water problems in 2050, assuming no climate change.

The Natural Resources Defense Council provides this map showing counties that will have water problems in 2050, assuming climate change.

A while back I sat down with a reader for a talk at Conscious Cup Coffee.

We discussed county politics and problems.

I concluded that the availability of drinking water was the biggest problem facing the county.

Tuesday in an article on pipelines I tried to raise consciousness about the possibility of a pipeline oil leak similar to the one that occurred recently in southwestern Michigan.

I remember that pipelines were being laid when I was county treasurer.

That’s more than 40 years ago.

It’s a safe bet that pipeline safety was not a good then as with more recently laid pipelines.

This map shows the hazardous liquid pipeline running through McHenry County.

Below is the press release about the seminar:

PROTECTING GROUNDWATER IN McHENRY COUNTY A PUBLIC FORUM

WOODSTOCK, IL – Future generations of McHenry County residents, businesses, and governments could face a potentially crippling water shortage.

To address this issue and begin to educate the general public, Imagine McHenry County, and McHenry County College will bring county water resource specialists, educators, plumbing experts, religious professionals, and landscapers together for a free Water Forum and Resource Fair on Saturday morning, August 7.

This will be an opportunity to learn about our sole source of drinking water – groundwater – and how to protect it.

The Forum will highlight local businesses whose practices and products work to protect and conserve our finite water supply. Vendors will offer products and services.

“Water is personal, water is local, water is regional, water is statewide. Everybody has a different idea, a different approach, a different issue, a different concern, but water is the most personal issue we have,”

said award-winning journalist Susan J. Marks in a recent interview.

Here's a map I found showing how water could be piped from the Great Lakes region west, south and southwest.

The Forum’s organizers hope that everyone will become better informed about the basic science and economics involved in protecting our water supply, and learn simple and practical ways to make a big difference.

The Water Forum and Resource Fair on Saturday, August 7, will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the McHenry County College, Conference Room, 8900 US Hwy 14, Crystal Lake, Illinois.  The public is encouraged to visit the vendor tables both before the event and during break.

Imagine McHenry County (IMC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of a grass roots planning process for quality growth countywide.  To learn more about this event and other initiatives of IMC, please see the IMC Facebook page or contact County Board Member, Barbara Wheeler, 815-245-4556.

3-D image of McHenry County

Shortly before the 2008 fall elections, the McHenry County Board approved a contract with the Illinois State Geological Survey for 2½ year study including “geologic mapping for sustainable management and protection of the county’s groundwater resources.”

It was supposed to be finished next December

Tuesday night the county board is scheduled to put off that deadline by a year.

The accompanying memo to Mary McCann, Chairman of the Natural and Environmental Resources Committee, from Water Resources Manager Cassandra McKinney says the Illinois State Water Survey will use the 3-D mapping of “the distribution and character of sand and gravel aquifers in the County as well as insight on their potential for recharge and vulnerability to contamination.”

But, because the aquifers extend beyond the county lines, the State Water Survey wants the overlapping areas mapped first to make the resulting groundwater flow model more accurate.

Hence, the delay of a year.

Island Lake has argued that Bob Wargaski’s pig farm should not be allowed near their well.

The well, however, is just a test well and test wells are supposed to be sealed after they are drilled.

Island Lake has not done so and now nearby neighbors are worried that the pesticides and herbicides used for decades on the farm field may be working themselves down the ungrouted well shaft in their water supply.

Presumably because of the hot political natured of the situation, neither the Lake County Health Department nor the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency have done anything about the apparent violation of state law.

The neighbors have banded together to send the following letter to Governor Rod Blagojevich:

November 6, 2008

Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor Blagojevich,

We, the neighbors of Island Lake, residing in unincorporated Wauconda Township, Lake County, IL are writing to you regarding a test well drilled by the Village of Island Lake. This well was drilled October 4, 2006, and to date has never been grouted, sealed, or used in two years, thus displaying a feckless consideration of our groundwater.

On May 13 2008, the IEPA granted a permit to make this a production well, even though it is non-compliant with any and all applicable regulations. In the Island lake construction application of the “as built” test well, the village engineer states that this well could be abandoned in the future.

To date, no work has been done on this ungrouted, unsealed well since October 2006, at which time this well had been effectively abandoned. We are perspicacious in our belief that this open well poses a contamination danger to the aquifer, putting our own private wells in danger, if they are not already contaminated. There are 13 private wells within 1/3 mile, with the closest well only 280 feet away, all at the same depth and in the same aquifer as the Village’s test well.

Our attempt to communicate with the village has been met with truculent defiance by a vainglorious mayor and board while we, the affected neighbors just outside the Village corporate limits, are treated as dunderheads and jackanapes. Their ultimate response to having been caught violating their zoning Ordinances on the location of the well, has been the passage of an unconstitutional text amendment, changing then-current ordinances after the fact.

Contacts with the Lake County Health Department as well as Illinois Department of Health have been lugubrious.

The Minimum Standard for Illinois Water Well Construction Code has not been met.
This is a clear violation of the Groundwater Protection Act.

This well casing is located in an old farm field on the side of a hill within 30 feet of a wetland on Dowell Road just south of Darrell Road.

We, the adjacent citizens of this well residing in Wauconda Township demand our ground water be protected and that all applicable federal and state laws be followed.

We are posting this letter on the local blog and will post all responses as well as lack of response from our State officials.

Enclosed is a synopsis of the ongoing events, as well as a picture of the abandoned, un-grouted well casing.

We would like the following:

1) Our water tested free of charge

2) To know why the codes and laws were not followed

3) What you intend to do about these violations

4) Immediate removal of the casing and sealing of the hole, as any attempt of grouting at this juncture will not meet codes.

Very truly yours,

Signatures on the following pages.

Island Lake has argued that Bob Wargaski’s pig farm should not be allowed near their well.

The well, however, is just a test well and test wells are supposed to be sealed after they are drilled.

Island Lake has not done so and now nearby neighbors are worried that the pesticides and herbicides used for decades on the farm field may be working themselves down the ungrouted well shaft in their water supply.

Presumably because of the hot political natured of the situation, neither the Lake County Health Department nor the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency have done anything about the apparent violation of state law.

The neighbors have banded together to send the following letter to Governor Rod Blagojevich:

November 6, 2008

Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor Blagojevich,

We, the neighbors of Island Lake, residing in unincorporated Wauconda Township, Lake County, IL are writing to you regarding a test well drilled by the Village of Island Lake. This well was drilled October 4, 2006, and to date has never been grouted, sealed, or used in two years, thus displaying a feckless consideration of our groundwater.

On May 13 2008, the IEPA granted a permit to make this a production well, even though it is non-compliant with any and all applicable regulations. In the Island lake construction application of the “as built” test well, the village engineer states that this well could be abandoned in the future.

To date, no work has been done on this ungrouted, unsealed well since October 2006, at which time this well had been effectively abandoned. We are perspicacious in our belief that this open well poses a contamination danger to the aquifer, putting our own private wells in danger, if they are not already contaminated. There are 13 private wells within 1/3 mile, with the closest well only 280 feet away, all at the same depth and in the same aquifer as the Village’s test well.

Our attempt to communicate with the village has been met with truculent defiance by a vainglorious mayor and board while we, the affected neighbors just outside the Village corporate limits, are treated as dunderheads and jackanapes. Their ultimate response to having been caught violating their zoning Ordinances on the location of the well, has been the passage of an unconstitutional text amendment, changing then-current ordinances after the fact.

Contacts with the Lake County Health Department as well as Illinois Department of Health have been lugubrious.

The Minimum Standard for Illinois Water Well Construction Code has not been met.
This is a clear violation of the Groundwater Protection Act.

This well casing is located in an old farm field on the side of a hill within 30 feet of a wetland on Dowell Road just south of Darrell Road.

We, the adjacent citizens of this well residing in Wauconda Township demand our ground water be protected and that all applicable federal and state laws be followed.

We are posting this letter on the local blog and will post all responses as well as lack of response from our State officials.

Enclosed is a synopsis of the ongoing events, as well as a picture of the abandoned, un-grouted well casing.

We would like the following:

1) Our water tested free of charge

2) To know why the codes and laws were not followed

3) What you intend to do about these violations

4) Immediate removal of the casing and sealing of the hole, as any attempt of grouting at this juncture will not meet codes.

Very truly yours,

Signatures on the following pages.