When Josh Ellis, Project Manager at the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) in Chicago, asked municipal and county governments in northern Illinois what they needed to implement the council's recommendations for better protecting their area's water supply, the number one answer was always the same: Education.

 

To answer the call and raise awareness of the value of water in northeastern Illinois, MPC teamed up with Openlands and launched the What Our Water's Worth (WOWW) Campaign. Online and off, the campaign keeps busy arming regional planning bodies as well as municipal and county governments with the facts, figures and recommendations they need to best to address their mounting water issues.

 

"While most people are keenly aware of how important a stable and ample supply of fresh water is to their lives, they know very little about where their water comes from and how it's delivered," Ellis said, adding that the result is the precious commodity ultimately gets under-valued.

 

And while Kane County has been ahead of the curve in regional planning solutions for the challenges it faces now and in the future, the Northwest Water Planning Alliance (NWPA) of which it is a part, is relatively new to the scene having been formed in September of 2010.

 

In a presentation to NWPA's Executive Committee last month, Ellis outlined the WOWW program and how it's raising awarness of how to manage this limited resource, how it's being wasted and better methods to conserve it.

 

The WOWW site, among others, offer a wealth of information on the issue such as:

 

A Map tracing where your local area water comes from (from Lake Michigan to the Fox River

 

A tool provided by Chicago's Field Museum to calculate your water "footprint"

 

A Model Water Use Conservation Ordinance

 

The final version of Water 2050: Northeastern Illinois Water Supply/Demand Plan is available for you to download from CMAP - the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

 

A report on Residential Water Use in Northeastern IL prepared for MPC by the University of Southern Illinois

 

A presentation outlining among many other things how our use of water will change as well as grow between now and 2050

 

Each month we will keep subscribers updated with stories heralding some remarkable ways in which neighbors as well as county and local governments are already placing a higher value on their water supply so stay tuned.