Today, we Imagine a Day Without Water. It’s a day to pause and notice the way water systems impact our lives and communities and to commit to ensuring a sustainable water future for generations to come.
The enormous COVID-19 public health crisis our country has faced has demonstrated the critical role that water and wastewater systems play in communities, protecting public health, safeguarding the environment, and maintaining a strong economy.
We take water service for granted every day. But consider what your day would be like if you couldn’t turn on the tap and get clean drinking water, or if you flushed the toilet and wastewater didn’t go anywhere. Without reliable drinking water and sanitation, citizens would be unable to stay healthy or safe from disease. A day without water means firefighters could not do their jobs, hospitals would be unsanitary, and no one could wash dirty dishes or clothes. What would happen to restaurants, farms, and the other hundreds of industries that depend on water? Without water, our entire economy would be at risk.
New threats from record rainfalls, flooding, toxic algae, and drought threaten critical water systems. Residents in the greater Barrington area rely on groundwater primarily from the shallow aquifer system for their water supply, whether it’s from a domestic well or a centralized community well. The region is unusual in that most households are served by domestic wells. Understanding groundwater conditions is essential for long-term planning of municipal and domestic water supplies and infrastructure.
In 2014, the Barrington Area Council of Governments (BACOG) launched a comprehensive groundwater monitoring program to study and track groundwater conditions in the area. The BACOG 5-year Groundwater Levels Report was developed by the Illinois State Water Survey and is available here on the BACOG website.