Illinois Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program Newsletter: August 2002

              Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program
1021 North Grand Avenue East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
Illinois Environmental August 2002
Protection Agency
ILLINOIS
NEWSLETTER
In an effort to address
the growing concern of a
declining quality of life
involving our nation’s wa-ter
supply and to
heighten the importance
of our nation’s water re-sources,
Congress passed
the Federal Clean Water
Act in 1972, its main ob-jective
being “to restore
and maintain the chemi-cal,
physical and biological
integrity of the Nation’s
waters.” Thirty years
following this key legisla-tion,
the nation, and Illi-nois
in particular, has
seen great water quality
improvements in our
lakes, streams and
groundwater. A great
deal of time, money and
effort have gone into
preserving and maintain-ing
our water, helping it
to be fishable, swimmable
and drinkable.
In general, this Act pin-pointed
the need to con-trol
point source dis-charge
into waters and to
preserve water quality
levels that would protect
fish and other wildlife as
well as provide for rec-reation
in and on the wa-ter
wherever possible.
As a result, miles of
streams and acres of
lakes in Illinois have seen
great improvement in wa-ter
quality. Now that
point sources, such as
industrial and municipal
discharge pollution, have
been largely controlled,
non-point sources of pol-lution
have taken center
stage in the fight to
maintain the integrity of
our water resources.
Non-point source pollu-tion
is pollution that can-not
be attributed to any
one entity. This type of
pollution occurs when pre-cipitation
(rain or snow-melt)
runs over land and
picks up pollutants such
as oil from streets or
parking lots, animal waste
from farms or fertilizers
from lawns, and deposits
these pollutants into
nearby lakes and streams.
This type of “non-point”
pollution is difficult to
regulate and has become
a focus for concern.
In recognition of the
30th anniversary of the
Clean Water Act, gover-nors
throughout the na-tion,
including Illinois
Governor George Ryan,
have proclaimed 2002 as
the Year of Clean Water.
Governor Ryan has also
dedicated October as
Clean Water Month.
Many state agencies and
national organizations are
designing activities and
displays to celebrate this
(Continued on page 3)
Year of Clean Water
Special points of interest:
• 30th Anniversary of the Clean
Water Act
• National Monitoring Day
• Illinois Clean Lakes Applications
Due
• Web-based Volunteer Database
• 2002 Lake Festivals
Inside this issue:
Notes from the Statewide Coordinator 2
Brookfield Zoo Celebrates the YOCW 2
2002 Lake Festivals 2
Lake Notes Fact Sheets 3
Web-based Volunteer Database 3
Illinois Clean Lakes Program News
Release
4
National Monitoring Day 5
Secchi Dip-In Update 5
Contacts 6