Water Supplies May Not Be Enough for Growing Chicago

More than 2 million people are expected to be added to the metropolitan Chicago region by 2030, and water supplies may not be able to keep up. Officials are trying to find a solution.

1 minute read

July 17, 2008, 8:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


"Perched on the edge of one of the world's great fresh water sources, the Chicago metro area, ironically, is reaching the upper limit of the water it can take from the lake by court order while at the same time discovering the deep water aquifers supplying outer suburbs are not replenishing as before."

"This one-two punch has galvanized state and local officials into trying to figure out ways to sustain the current fresh water supply and using the available supply more efficiently in the future."

"'People may think as long as water is running out of the tap there is plenty. But we have been mining water and we need to [plan] now rather than address this on a crisis basis,' insists Paul Schuch, director of Water Resources for fast-growing Kane County."

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 in The Chicago Tribune

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