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public about the vulnerability of the groundwater resources; cooperative program to coordinate
the groundwater protection efforts of state and local governments, business and citizens; and
develop a list of contractors with emergency response and groundwater contamination cleanup
capabilities.
City of Pekin
The IEPA conducted a GPNA for the City of Pekin which is supplied water by the Illinois
American Water Company (IAWC). The City of Pekin is located in Tazewell County east of the
Illinois River. The Pekin study area was comprised of approximately 20 square miles. The
community water supply supplies approximately 4,420,000 gpd to 13,514 services. The IAWC-Pekin
community water supply utilizes a homogeneous unconfined sand and gravel aquifer that
is present between a bluff and the Illinois River. The aquifer material pinches out against the
bluff, and to the north. The assessment for Pekin also determined the recharge areas for the
wells, and determined the characteristics of the soils and the geologic vulnerability. Unlike the
other pilot assessments, the aquifer material pinched out before a 5 year time of travel was
obtained as illustrated in Figure 2. Like the other assessments the existing potential sources of
contamination and land-use zoning was evaluated relative to the recharge areas.
The GPNA determined that there was some indirect protection provided in the recharge areas
because the majority of the land-use zoning was residential, and the homes were hooked up to a
municipal sewer system. Furthermore, there did not appear to be any business being conducted
in the homes that might have an adverse affect on groundwater (e.g., furniture refinishing).
However, there were also areas that were zoned industrial and commercial within and proximate
to the Pekin well recharge areas. Additionally, a number of existing potential contamination
sources were located within the recharge areas.
The GPNA helped establish a focus for developing a local groundwater protection strategy. The
Central Regional Groundwater Protection Planning Committee in cooperation with the Mayor
and Pekin City Council established a team comprised of representatives from: local business;
Pekin Planning and Zoning Department; Pekin Engineering Department; Pekin High School;
IAWC staff; the Central Planning Committee; the local Fire Chief; Department of Energy and
Natural Resources( DENR) and the IEPA. The primary purpose of this team was to work
together to educate local businesses, other community residents about the benefits of
groundwater protection, and to concurrently implement the recommendations made in the
GPNA.
During this process it was determined that if one of the Pekin well recharge areas was
Contaminated it would result in a loss of 5-7 million gallons of production supply. It was also
determined that the approximate cost for treating groundwater would be $4,000,000 or
$15,000,000 to build a surface water treatment plant. Additionally, it was concluded that
contamination of this supply would be detrimental to further economic development because
new business coming into the area will place an increased demand on the use of uncontaminated
groundwater.
