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Draft Water Supply Consortium Vision and Mission Statement
Vision - Recognizing that water resources have no political boundaries, the vision
of the Tri-State Water Consortium is to ensure a sustainable high-quality water
supply for future generations throughout the metropolitan region of northeastern
Illinois, southeastern Wisconsin, and northwestern Indiana.
Mission - The Tri-State Water Consortium mission is to promote a
comprehensive regional approach to sustainable water supply planning and
management in the greater Chicago metropolitan region, including southeastern
Wisconsin and northwestern Indiana. We recognize that comprehensive
planning and management must include all water resources, from Lake Michigan
to inland surface waters to groundwater. Our mission will address the tri-state
region’s water supply issues by pursuing the following goals:
o Acquire funding to support the mission of the Consortium;
o Promote water supply data gathering, research, and data analysis;
o Promote legislation at federal, state, and local levels for water supply
planning and management;
o Advocate increased water supply education among all stakeholders;
o Create a regional water supply plan and provide support to implement that
plan.
The Illinois Clearinghouse continues to attract considerable attention and download rates
increase every month. During the first six months of 2003, the Illinois Clearinghouse recorded
about 1,350,000 hits from 54,500 individual users. During the same period, about 60,500 DOQ
files were downloaded from the Clearinghouse, a rate of more than 300 per day.
The ISWS, through funding from the Illinois EPA, has accelerated the placement of groundwater
data in a web-accessible format. Following the lead of the Illinois EPA and United States
Geological Survey (USGS) in the creation of the SWAP ArcIMS site, the ISWS has created an
Information Management System (IMS) site currently containing 2001 water withdrawal data
collected through the ISWS’ Illinois Water Inventory Program (IWIP). These data include point
water withdrawals (surface water and groundwater) for all community supplies and township
aggregate withdrawals for self-supplied industrial, commercial, power generation, and wildlife
management users. Plans include the addition of more years of IWIP data, ISWS groundwater
quality data, and aquifer hydraulic properties data by the end of 2003.
Section 3. Continue to conduct groundwater assessments and share the information
through regular updates and completed reports
During the 2002 and 2003 reporting period, ISGS and ISWS scientists have been involved with
mapping groundwater resources, assessing aquifer yields and recharge, and studying the
occurrence, fate, and transport of contaminants in shallow groundwater. In May 2001, the 92nd
Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Resolution 0137 and House Resolution 0365 directing
the Department of Natural Resources to develop a plan for studying the aquifer systems of the
state by November 2001. The Surveys prepared separate, but related, responses that focused on a
comprehensive approach to water resources planning and management and how to achieve goals
with limited resources for geologic mapping (ISGS, 2001) and water resources assessments
(ISWS, 2001).
Groundwater resource
availability is of
particular interest in
Kane County as a result
of the Northeastern
Illinois Planning
Commission (NIPC)
Strategic Plan for
Water Resource
Management, in which
four townships in Kane
County are predicted to
have potential water
shortages by the year
2020 if no action is
taken. ISWS and ISGS
scientists presented a
one-day workshop on
