Kane County is committed to better understanding the ability of water supply to meet water demands and protect the long-term integrity of its water resources.
Kane County faces several water supply challenges:
- Shallow groundwater aquifers are susceptible to contamination
- Deep groundwater aquifers are experiencing drawdown (declines in water levels)
- Fox River regulated withdrawals to protect minimum-instream flow and nutrient loading.
Kane County’s Water Supply
Kane County’s water supply comes from groundwater aquifers and the Fox River.
Beneath the Surface: Kane’s Aquifers
Kane County’s groundwater includes shallow aquifers and deeper sandstone aquifers. Groundwater originates from rain that permeates through the land into underground aquifers. Because this process takes time, the rate at which we take water from aquifers can exceed the rate at which rain recharges the aquifer. Over time, the groundwater levels in the county have declined due to increased water withdrawal rates from the aquifers.
Fox River
Photo Credit: Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)
The Fox River ecosystem provides water supply, recreation opportunities, and wildlife habitat. As the Fox River watershed has continued to urbanize, both wastewater discharges into the river as well as water withdrawals from the river have increased. While groundwater provides the majority of water supply in the county, the Fox River has played an important role in relieving deep groundwater aquifers over pumping.
Dive deeper
Kane County has supported scientific investigations conducted by the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) and Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) to support water supply planning.
A countywide network of observation wells serve as locations to collect groundwater quality samples and will assist in long-term water supply planning.
Visit the Kane County Groundwater Monitoring Network website
The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) and the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) have conducted numerous studies in Kane County, including large-scale measurements of shallow water levels, mapping of aquifers, and development of regional and local scale groundwater flow models.