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Impact of Lake Michigan Allocations on the Cambrian‐Ordovician Aquifer System
Author(s) -
Visocky Adrian P.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1982.tb01385.x
Subject(s) - aquifer , ordovician , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , groundwater , deep water , surficial aquifer , oceanography , paleontology , groundwater recharge , geotechnical engineering
Overpumping of the Cambrian‐Ordovician aquifer in the Chicago area has caused severe water‐level declines in portions of Cook, DuPage, Kane, and Will Counties. Recent changes in the accounting procedure for diversion of Lake Michigan water have released more water for public supplies. As communities currently withdrawing water from deep wells receive allocations of Lake Michigan water, deep pumpage will decrease in those areas and water levels will partially recover. Major cones of depression will shift southward to Joliet and westward to the Fox River communities north of Aurora. Critically low water levels caused by pumpage in these areas will result in a loss of pumping capacity of as much as 19% by the year 2020. Despite lake allocations, deep pumpage will grow again and will still exceed the practical sustained yield (65 mgd/2.46 × 10 5 m 3 /day) of the aquifer. Continued growth in Wisconsin pumpage will also contribute an estimated additional decline of about 80 feet near the State line between 1980 and 2020.