Rain Barrels as Dinner Conversation

I have a confession to make. Lately, I’ve been hijacking parties to talk up rain barrels to my friends. Fortunately for my agenda (and my social life), the cities of Champaign and Urbana are hosting a rain barrel sale this coming Saturday, May 25 (see complete info here), and, not only are the barrels half the price they would be at a hardware store, but they might also keep saving you money.

According to Scott Tess, the Urbana Environmental Sustainability Manager and one of the organizers of the sale, the primary purpose of rain barrels is to reduce potable water usage in landscaping. And, since the U.S. EPA estimates that about 30% of American water use is for landscaping, disconnecting your downspout could result in a smaller water bill.

Here in Champaign-Urbana, as in much of Illinois, there’s an additional benefit to saving some rainwater for later use: our water is supplied exclusively from groundwater. Unfortunately for our water use habits, though, the U.S. Geological Survey just released a report stating that the U.S. is rapidly using up its groundwater resources. Consequently, those 55 gallon rain barrels might make a big difference in keeping gardens green while still ensuring that groundwater resources are available in the future.

In a coming blog post, we’ll examine the work of IWRC-sponsored researchers Drs. Amy Ando and Catalina Londoño as they take a look at what motivates people to add rain barrels and other green infrastructure to their neighborhoods in the Chicago region.             

May Legislative Updates

 

HB 2753 Lake Michigan Wind Energy

Last time we updated, this bill had passed the House and was headed for the Senate Energy Committee. It has since passed out of committee, and was slated for a third reading on May 15. No word, yet, on progress since then.

We should also note that we got the HB number wrong on the last go round—it should be HB 2753, not 2758. 2758 is a school meal program update. While interesting, it’s not exactly in the province of Illinois Water. Sorry about that.

HB 1522 County Stormwater Management

This measure passed both Houses on May 16. We’ll update on DuPage and Peoria Counties’ stormwater plans as we hear more. 

HB 3086 Two-Year Fracking Moratorium/Ban

This measure is still sitting in the Rules Committee, although some new co-sponsors signed on in May.

HB 2615—Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act

Amendment 1—which added requirements regarding well crew staff members—was defeated on May 1. According to various news sources, this measure will be up for a vote again, soon.

HB 2907—EPA Disposal of PCBs

This measure is still sitting in the Rules Committee as of 22 March 2013 

SB 1868—EPA Hazardous Waste Siting

This measure was referred to the Assignments Committee as of 30 April 2013, and there it sits.

HB 1379 Water and Sewer Utilities Value

This measure was passed in both Houses on 16 May 2013

And here’s another important one we missed:

SB 1869

Summary: Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that the corporate authorities of cities and villages must also maintain storm sewers, detention basins, and retention basins for drainage purposes.

Status: Passed both Houses as of 16 May 2013.

Water Jobs: Making Plans

Abby Crisostomo, an associate at the of the Metropolitan Planning Council, joins us today to discuss what it’s like to be a planner in the non-profit world. Abby grew up in Duluth, Minnesota but moved to Chicago to attend the University of Chicago and stayed to earn her master’s at the University of Illinois at Chicago. When not working hard to save water in Chicagoland, Abby enjoys swing dancing and chatting with @IllinoisWater on twitter.   

Would you please explain what an Associate with the Metropolitan Planning Council does?

MPC is a small organization without too much hierarchy, so everyone ends up doing a lot of different types of work. Associates handle much of the day-to-day management of our various projects. MPC does research, advocacy and on-the-ground implementation, so daily work can vary wildly from doing research to convening partners to coordinating meetings to site visits to writing reports and blog posts to attending conferences and giving presentations, and more.

How did you end up at the Metropolitan Planning Council?

I interned here while I was in grad school and loved what I was doing. I stayed on past the internship period to do my master’s project, and ended up getting hired full-time just as I was completing my degree.

How did you become interested in planning?

I’ve always been interested in the interdisciplinary nature of planning. Growing up, I always thought I’d go into law, as I thought that was the only way to get such a broad exposure to issues, but then I discovered planning while in undergrad taking a class from the urban sociologist, Saskia Sassen. I spent the rest of my undergrad years trying to learn more about what planning was. After graduation, I moved to New York City to work at a law firm, but on the side, I got involved with my local community association. I went to events by an organization similar to MPC in NYC (Municipal Arts Society), and took classes through Rutgers’ planning school and New York University’s real estate school. When I moved back to Chicago, I worked at the Alliance for the Great Lakes for a few years, which reignited interest I had in water issues and environmental policy, so I knew I wanted to go back to grad school to combine all those things.

What kind of education does a planner need?

Planners do such varied jobs, that there’s no one-size-fits-all path. It’s pretty standard to get a master’s degree in planning, public policy, public administration, architecture, or a specific policy topic (such as, environmental policy). Beyond that, on-the-job experience through internships is almost, if not more, important.

Guest Post: Drinking Water Education

Since 2000, the Illinois Water Resources Center has partnered with the Illinois State Water Survey to provide outreach programs for drinking water suppliers in Illinois and across the country. Today, Jennifer Wilson, an IWRC staff member and the communication coordinator for both SmallWaterSupply.org and PrivateWellClass.org, describes these programs and the audiences they’ve reached. 

      

Small communities and rural areas face real challenges obtaining and maintaining safe water supplies. The Illinois Water Resources Center is a partner with the Illinois State Water Survey on two websites funded by the US EPA, in partnership with the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP), which address education and outreach barriers to safe water.  

PrivateWellClass.org centers on a 10-week email course (The Private Well Class) that teaches homeowners how to properly care for and maintain their water well. This includes introductory information on geology, well contamination, and water testing. The site is designed to serve the 45 million Americans who rely on a private well for their drinking water and includes a pre- and post-test quiz to test knowledge improvement.

Steve Wilson, the project manager at SmallWaterSupply.org and a career groundwater hydrologist, has combined his own knowledge with the vast resources already available on private wells. Understanding how to prevent groundwater contamination, both on the property and via cross-connection control, is addressed in the lessons as well as during a series of three live webinars. To date, more than 2100 individuals have signed up for The Private Well Class. 

SmallWaterSupply.org is a one-of-a-kind resource website on many drinking water, wastewater, and utility management topics. It aggregates information from across the web so that users can save significant time finding the documents, training events, and news they need. The site is designed to serve water operators in small communities and tribes across the United States. 

The team behind SmallWaterSupply.org, which has included many U of I student workers over the years, has indexed more than 23,000 events and 11,000 documents to date. A biweekly newsletter reaches more than 1100 water industry professionals with the most timely and relevant information available. 

Both websites share a key mission, to distill best-available information into user-friendly content and lessons that serve small communities and rural areas across the United States. 

NIWR and USACE Call for Proposals

The National Institute for Water Resources and the US Army Corps of Engineers have announced that this year's Water Resources Competitive Grants Program is now accepting proposals. These grants support applied research for up to the two projects, up to $200,000 per project. The RFP closes August 15, 2013.

This year, funding priorities include: identifying opportunities to improve federal and state agency interaction in water resources, assessment of alternative government involvement in water resources, risk assessment for critical infrastructure, methods to harmonize decision making processes, need for federal involvement in risk-reduction methods for coastal storms, alternative criteria for assessing infrastructure assets, how to yield self-sustaining water resources improvements in depressed communities, and methods for improving public safety issues in storms. This is a paraphrased list, so, for full details, please visit the NIWR website.

Illinois researchers who are interested in submitting proposals to this RFP should contact Illinois Water Resources Center. If you aren't in Illinois, you will need to contact your state's water center to submit a proposal. A complete list of water centers can be found here.    

You can contact us through our website, but we're going through some construction at the moment, so if that link doesn't work, you can contact us at cmlay (at) illinois.edu