Towards Collaborative and Equitable Groundwater Governance

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is the comprehensive planning organization for a seven-county region within northeast Illinois around Chicago: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake McHenry, Will, and the townships of Aux Sable in Grundy County and Sandwich and Somonauk in DeKalb County.

An evaluation of the high-capacity well review process was conducted by CMAP as part of the water sustainability forecast and future water demand estimate included in the regional comprehensive plan, Imagine 2050. This evaluation included developing a stakeholder list, conducting interviews, and reviewing of existing statues and regulations within the state and neighboring states in EPA Region 5.

The stakeholder list included water-focused and water-adjacent state agencies such as the Office of Water Resources, the Office of Mines and Minerals, the Illinois State Water Survey, the Illinois Water Resource Center, the Illinois State Geological Survey, and programs and divisions within the Bureau of Water. There was also a focus on local government units within the geographic region of the Northwest Water Planning Alliance (NWPA), the five counties of DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Lake, and McHenry.

As Kane County in northeast Illinois contains the highest number of private wells per capita in the state, the area was the focus as CMAP staff reviewed current statutes, regulations, and municipal ordinances for high-capacity wells and groundwater use. CMAP staff conducted interviews with agency and municipal staff over several months. These interviews helped to shape the resulting policy memo Securing Illinois’ groundwater future which builds on Illinois' 2022 State Water Plan and evaluates Illinois’ 1983 Water Use Act.

• Securing Illinois' Groundwater Future

• Case Study - Northeast Illinois and Multi-Aquifer Wells

In early May of 2024, a group of thirteen people including Indigenous leaders, community advocates, and scientists gathered at the North American Indian Association of Detroit for a two-day workshop facilitated by Freshwater. The purpose of this workshop was to identify regional issues, current practices, and sustainable groundwater governance strategies for the Michindoh aquifer, a groundwater feature spanning the ancestral homelands of the Potowatomi and other Anishinaabe nations, the three states of Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, and numerous local government units.

This workshop was designed to bring diverse voices together to discuss governance challenges, needs, and strategies for sustaining the Michindoh aquifer and the many communities it supports.

The four questions that guided this two-day workshop included:

1. What concerns are you working on within the Michindoh Aquifer?
2. What current groundwater stressors are you hoping to address in a better way?
3. Do you have any input on sustainable governance practices that could be implemented multiregionally?
4. What other experts do you think should be a part of this process, and part of the continuing
   conversation?

• Read the full Michindoh workshop summary

• Case Study - AquaBounty

The Metropolitan Council, locally referred to as Met Council, is the regional policy-making body for the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area with planning services focused on transportation, water use and land use. The Metro Area Water Supply Plan, a subplan within the larger Imagine 2050 Water Policy Plan, included the southwest metro as one of the subregional focus areas where workshops were held. The Southwest Metro Workgroup included members from the six municipalities of the City of Burnsville, Credit River Township, City of Lakeville, City of Prior Lake, City of Savage, City of Shakopee, and as well as the federally recognized sovereign Dakota tribal government of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community which is located in Scott County.

A year-long series of participatory meetings developed a subregional workgroup of local leaders who collaboratively designed the two iterative subregional workshops that were held for water-adjacent professionals and experts from utilities, watersheds, state agencies, large-volume water users, nonprofits, and community-based organizations. The participants worked through subregional specific issues and implementation challenges with their peers, with input and comments collected and added to regional subplans between meetings. A final meeting was held with all subregional participants to explain the overall regional water supply plan. Participants were able to discuss and comment on subregional plans and the area water plan before the plan was publicly posted for comment. Public comments were then reviewed and integrated into Met Council’s final plan water policy plan.

• Imagine 2050 - Water Policy Plan

• Case Study - Niagara Bottling

In October 2024, a group of approximately thirty-five people including scientists, lawyers, and government staff from local, state, Tribal, and federal institutions gathered at the Lake of the Torches Convention Center in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin to discuss groundwater in North Central Wisconsin during this two-day workshop facilitated by Freshwater. The purpose of the workshop was to identify regional issues, current practices, and sustainable groundwater governance strategies for the five-county areas of Taylor, Lincoln, Price, Vilas, and Oneida defined as “North Central Wisconsin.” These counties share similar geologic and groundwater features, where thin glacial sediment overlies the fractured crystalline bedrock resulting in the lowest groundwater yields in the state. The workshop was hosted on the Lac du Flambeau reservation, whose 1842 ceded lands form much of what is now the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest.

The four questions that guided this two-day workshop included:

1. What concerns are you working on within North Central Wisconsin?
2. What current groundwater stressors are you hoping to address in a better way?
3. Do you have any input on sustainable governance practices that could be implemented multiregionally?
4. What other experts do you think should be a part of this process, and part of the continuing
   conversation?

• Read the full North Central Wisconsin workshop summary

• Case Study - Cranberries, Groundwater Withdrawals, and the Impact