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The Basinwide Management
Advisory Group will have its first meeting on Monday, Sept. 29, at
the Department of Natural Resources headquarters located at One
Natural Resources Way in Springfield. The session will begin at 8:30
a.m. and will be open to the public, though participation will be
limited to advisory group members. The group includes
representatives of industry, developers, agriculture, governmental
bodies and environmental groups.
"Our own evaluations, and
legislation adopted during the recent session of the General
Assembly, both identified weaknesses in the current Facility
Planning Area process that make it essentially a ‘piecemeal'
approach focused on local wastewater treatment capacity and
facilities that serve a localized population," Cipriano said.
The Facility Planning Area
program focuses on decisions over wastewater treatment capacity and
jurisdiction.
The advisory group's goal will
be to develop more comprehensive water quality planning and
protection approaches incorporating monitoring, anti-degradation
analysis, non-point-source pollution control, permitting issues and
land use policies. Members will also identify a system to guide
implementation of such customized programs within each of the
state's 33 watershed basins, create or designate an existing
management group to ensure stakeholder involvement within each
basin, and develop a process that will phase in additional basins to
ultimately provide coverage for the entire state.
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Development of the advisory
group is an outgrowth of two approaches to the often-misunderstood
Facility Planning Area process. Early in 2003, the Illinois EPA
contracted with a neutral consultant to evaluate the current system.
In June, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed House Bill 1250, which requires
Illinois EPA to propose rules within the next 12 months that specify
a formal process to define boundaries of wastewater treatment areas.
"Both the governor and I hope
that the efforts of the advisory group will set the stage for more
effective and efficient watershed protection in the years to come.
We are fully committed to developing a watershed planning and
protection infrastructure that is fully implemented by 2008,"
Cipriano said.
In
her charge to the group, Cipriano noted, "For both environmental and
economic reasons, this dialogue and any resultant consensus is
critical to the state of Illinois."
[Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency
news release]
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