  little increment may help if you get enough of it to add up, but my sense is there aren’t enough of those increments to add up to what we really need.” Since indoor water use makes up the majority of Springfield’s water demand, Skelly says, CWLP established changes in the city’s plumbing code and offered residents voluntary home plumbing retrofits to help conservation efforts. These are expected to save nearly 1.92 mgd and are included in the 2025 demand.
Both sides of the Hunter Lake issue await the IEPA’s decision. If water quality certification is granted, CWLP must then apply for a dam construction permit with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. If the water quality certification for Hunter Lake is denied, Skelly says, the city will backtrack to its list of alternatives. Even though they’ve never been ranked in order of preference, he says, the gravel-pit-and-wells system seems to be the next favored option.
The city already researched the purchase of one gravel pit, located at the former site of Clear Lake Sand and Gravel near Riverton, at an estimated cost of $875,000.
The utilities committee discussed the issue further at its Dec. 29 meeting and passed it on for full council consideration on Jan. 6. The utilities committee also held up an ordinance that would abandon the construction of Hunter Lake. Skelly says aldermen can vote in favor of that ordinance at any time. If this happens, he continues, CWLP would tell the IEPA to halt their application.
“They do look at the city’s preferred alternative,” Skelly says, “and if it’s something else, they’re not going to continue the permitting process for Hunter Lake.” To weigh in on Hunter Lake, postmark or email comments to the IEPA by midnight, Jan. 5. Send to hearing officer Kurt Neibergall, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency #5, 1021 N. Grand Ave. E., P.O. Box 19276, Springfield IL 62794-9276 or Kurt.Neibergall@illinois.gov. Contact Amanda Robert at [email protected].
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