Nearly 6.5 million people throughout Chicago and 200 surrounding suburbs depend on Lake Michigan for their drinking water. However, despite Lake Michigan’s appearance as being an endless supply of fresh water, Illinois is limited by the federal courts to withdraw only 2.1 billion gallons each day from the lake.
As our towns and cities make plans to accommodate the region’s growth projected for the coming decades, an alarming fact emerges: we are already pushing the upper limit of our lake water restriction, and our groundwater resources are being depleted faster than they’re being replenished.
It’s quickly becoming clear that in order to meet the demand of a growing population and to maintain a vibrant economy, we need to become much more efficient and thoughtful with our water usage.