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GROUNDWATER IN ILLINOIS
A forum for discussing groundwater issues in Illinois by scientists at the Illinois State Water Survey.
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  • Viruses in Deep Groundwater

    Nov 5, 2010 3:30 pm

    When I was an undergraduate, which really wasnt that long ago--okay, 30 years ago--the prevailing wisdom was that there wasnt life below the soil zone. The idea was that since all life was based on energy from the sun (another assumption thats no longer valid), you couldnt have life too far away from the suns reach. Well, we have found microbes pretty much everywhere weve looked, and the question now is where will we NOT find life.

  • Bottled Water vs. Tap Water

    Oct 29, 2010 11:00 am

    The only reason to buy bottled water is for the convenience (and possibly taste). In Illinois, homeowners who have their own wells often buy drinking water due to quality problems with their well water. But if you get your drinking water from a public water supply, that water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has developed drinking water standards for more than 100 contaminants. Bottled water, on the other hand, has been defined as food and is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), using different standards than EPA. FDA's regulations are defined as Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs), such as using sanitary conditions, protecting water sources, and analyzing for a smaller set of contaminants than EPA requires. This is not to say that bottled water is unsafe, but its quality is no better than tap water.

  • Why study water quality?

    Oct 21, 2010 4:30 pm

    This seems like an obvious question. We need to understand water quality in order to protect our health, and also the health of ecosystems. Those, of course, are the main reasons we are interested in water quality, so that we make sure our drinking water is safe and we are not damaging the environment.

  • Illinois Water 2010 Conference

    Oct 15, 2010 11:00 am

    Last week (October 6-7, 2010) was the biennial Illinois Water conference, hosted by the Illinois Water Resources Center at UI. There were sessions covering a large variety of issues important to Illinois, from green infrastructure to climate change to Asian Carp. There were a few sessions on water quality. I gave a talk on chloride in Illinois waters on October 7.

  • Introduction to Blog on Water Quality, focusing on Illinois

    Aug 27, 2010 5:00 pm

    Water quality is a critical component of water for all of its uses. My goal for this blog is to provide a forum for discussing water quality issues, primarily as they apply to Illinois.