water fountain

Population growth and industrial development, particularly in Chicago’s collar counties, has led to increasing groundwater withdrawals in the region. In some areas, groundwater is being withdrawn at a rate that exceeds the recharge rate, resulting in decreasing yields, increasing pumping demands, increasing salinity and the search for alternative water sources, all of which increase the cost of providing water to people.

“During the development of the region’s comprehensive plan, ON TO 2050, it became clear that critical water information that communities need to make informed land use, transportation, and infrastructure investment decisions was missing,” said Margaret Schneemann, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) water resource economist.

It was missing until now—IISG and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning have developed critical water demand and rate data for northeastern Illinois. The two products, available on the CMAP Data Hub, include past water use and demand forecasts and water and sewer rate data for each community utility.

Learn more about these datasets and how communities can use them on the CMAP website.


Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.

 

Writer: Irene Miles, 217.333.8055, miles@illinois.edu

Source: CMAP update Immerse Yourself in New Water Data

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This season, let’s teach eco-friendly habits while spreading cheer! NOAA’s Greener Holiday Gift Guide is full of ideas to reduce waste and protect our precious water resources. Check out the full guide at the link in bio. #teachingtuesdayNOAA Marine Debris NOAA Education
The gales of November may come early, but, as usual, the nominations for the Lakies are right on time along with our official call for nominations! Brought to you by the Teach Me About the Great Lakes podcast, The Lakies (aka "quite possibly not the least prestigious Great Lakes-focused awards ceremony there is”) are back. Our goal isn't to be the Official Arbiters of Quality, but to host a fun celebration of amazing Great Lakes-related research, outreach, and communication in the inimitable Teach Me style.Nomination categories are:-Great Lakes Science Communication of the Year-Great Lakes Outreach Program of the Year-Great Lakes News Event of the Year-Great Lakes Research Finding of the Year-Coolest Thing You Learned Listening to TMATGL in 2025-Science Podcast of the Year (Non-TMATGL edition)-Great Lakes Animal of the Year-Great Lakes Non-Animal of the Year-Great Lakes Sandwich of the Year-Great Lakes Donut of the YearThe Details: -Deadline: Nominations close on December 4th.Process: It's easy (just enter the name/title and a link).-Self-Nominations: Highly encouraged. Don't be shy.We’d love to get a broad swath of work across both the serious and less-serious categories to celebrate. Feel free to pass the link on to interested people: https://bit.ly/Lakies25
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