As spring arrives in the Midwest, it's an ideal time to prepare outdoor landscapes for the summer months while prioritizing water conservation and efficiency. With warmer temperatures on the horizon, public water suppliers and outdoor water users can take proactive steps to help ensure that gardens and lawns thrive without excessive water usage.   

​For communities grappling with water quantity and quality issues, seeking alternative sources of supply is often considered one of the last options. Some communities in the NWPA region are turning to Lake Michigan as a potential water source. However, accessing Lake Michigan water may not be feasible for everyone. Seeking and obtaining Lake Michigan water is a costly and timely endeavor that requires significant coordination and evaluation of options, which can result in uncertainty around its viability. If communities can obtain Lake Michigan water, they need to demonstrate their path to meet the Lake Michigan permit requirements, which include a goal of minimizing water loss to less than 10 percent and implementation of other required water conservation best practices. Nevertheless, accessing Lake Michigan is not an impossible endeavor, as demonstrated by the most recent agreement between the WaterLink communities – the Villages of Oswego and Montgomery and the United City of Yorkville – and the DuPage Water Commission.  

In 2021, the WaterLink partnership was formed between the Villages of Oswego and Montgomery, and United City of Yorkville. These communities united to address concerns about the depletion of their shared water source, the deep sandstone aquifer. Through individual and collective analyses of their water supply and demand, it was predicted that the municipalities would be at risk of well inoperability by as early as 2050. 

Through collaboration, the WaterLink communities (Oswego, Montgomery, and Yorkville) evaluated potential water source options, like the Fox River and Lake Michigan, by conducting cost analysis and exploring water withdrawal and transmission options. Withdrawal options included accessing water through already established water commissions, developing sub-regional systems, or building new infrastructure as an individual municipality. According to a consultant-led cost analysis for the Village of Oswego, the estimated total cost for transitioning all three communities to the Fox River water source was nearly $298 million ($261 million for regional improvements and $37 million for internal improvements) and $229 million to access water through the DuPage Water Commission (DWC) ($190 million for regional improvements and $39 million for internal improvements). Due to the sizeable cost savings, it was determined that accessing Lake Michigan water through the DWC would be the most cost-effective, secure, and sustainable option.
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To fund the project, each of the three municipalities aims to institute gradual rate increases across the project’s lifetime and secure additional funding when available. For example, the United City of Yorkville’s total estimated cost to connect to the DWC system and complete the required improvements within their Water Works System is $160 million ($32 million for phase one and $126 million for phase two). They recently applied for a U.S. EPA Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFA) loan, which could potentially provide up to $130 million for the project, significantly reducing the cost burden for the municipality. They also will be seeking loan funds from the Illinois EPA State Revolving Fund to meet their funding needs. 
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The agreement between DWC and the WaterLink communities was made official in October 2024 when DWC released a statement confirming the partnership and project cost of $250 million and outlining the next steps. Construction is expected to begin in 2025 and be completed in 2028. As communities tackle construction, additional steps will need to be taken now and into the future to ensure they are complying with the DWC’s Lake Michigan allocation permit water conservation and water loss control goals. Communities can turn to the NWPA’s water conservation resources, including a soon-to-be-released NWPA Water Supply Sustainability Plan, to help chart that path. Nevertheless, this partnership can pave the way for similar collaboration between municipalities with shared interests and be an example of how partnerships strengthen individual communities and make large-scale projects possible.

The Illinois Water Inventory Program (IWIP) develops and maintains a database of high-capacity water wells and intakes from public water supplies, self-supplied industries, irrigation, fish and wildlife, and conservation sectors. But they do much more than collect data. Participation and involvement with IWIP pays dividends for operators, stakeholders, and users alike. 
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IWIP coordinates reporting and data collection on high-capacity water wells and intakes statewide, which are defined as any well or intake that is rated to pump 70 gallons per minute (gpm) or greater, both individually and as a combined measure when multiple wells/intakes are present at one facility. This collection is done primarily through IWIP’s Online Reporting Tool and covers groundwater and surface water uses.  ​

How can the price of water in your community be changed to promote water conservation? How can municipalities price water to keep basic needs and services affordable for all residents while promoting reduced use? And what are the long-term benefits for the municipality?
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What is conservation pricing?
Conservation pricing is water rate structures that motivate consumers to use water efficiently. These structures come in many forms, such as uniform rates, tiered rates, seasonal rates, and water budget-based rates. For all of these rate structures, wasteful or inefficient water use is more costly for customers than using only what they really need for drinking, cooking, sanitation, and cleaning. 

​Significant portions of the Chicago region – especially those dependent upon groundwater sources -- are encountering water supply and quality issues. The region’s comprehensive plan, ON TO 2050, anticipates these issues will grow unless additional steps are taken to coordinate and conserve the region’s shared water supply resources. The recently updated regional water demand forecast revealed that while overall water use is stable, projected demand will exceed available groundwater supplies in some areas. Yet with additional conservation and efficiency measures, the region can maintain its long-term drinking water supplies. 

Protecting and conserving our water supply is a priority of all water resource managers, public works directors, and municipal leaders in the Chicago area. What is one of the most efficient ways to address water conservation? Look at the lawns.

Landscape and lawn watering is the leading discretionary use of water in the Chicago region, accounting for more than thirty percent of all residential water use. Additionally, as much as fifty percent of all water used outdoors is wasted due to inefficient watering methods and systems.

This use puts a strain on existing water resources, particularly in Northwest Water Planning Alliance communities. It also impacts existing water infrastructure, causing peak usage to rise and increasing the need for additional capacity-building infrastructure, which can be of huge cost to communities.