At its December 17 quarterly meeting, the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission recognized two individuals for their leadership in regional planning and coordination. Herbert T. Schumann, a member of the Cook County Board, was elected NIPC President for 1999. At the same time, the Commission commended Phillip D. Peters, Executive Director since 1992, who is retiring for health reasons.

Schumann, one of three Commissioners appointed by the President of the Cook County Board, has served on NIPC since 1991. He was elected Treasurer in 1994 and has also chaired the Commission's Legislative Committee. He is a resident of Palos Heights. Other officers elected with Schumann were Olivia Gow of Elmhurst, a member of the DuPage County Board, as Vice-President; Frank R. Miller of Aurora, member of the Regional Transportation Authority board, Treasurer; Rita Athas, Assistant to the Mayor of Chicago, Secretary; Alan Bennett, Trustee of the Village of Elmwood Park, Vice President for Planning; and A. E. Machak of Waukegan, former trustee of the North Shore Sanitary District, Vice President for Water Resources.

The Commission has initiated the preparation of a strategic plan for water resource management. The two-year planning process will comprehensively address the region's interrelated water resources issues, including water quality, flooding, water supply, and waterbody uses. NIPC will collaborate with a wide spectrum of public and private stakeholders within and adjacent to the six-county area to identify recommendations, opportunities, and strategies. The intended outcomes include a strategic plan containing assessments of water resource needs and recommended public actions, the development of a consensus that can effectively influence State policy on behalf of the region, and a much-enhanced public understanding of the issues pertaining to water.

The proposed plan will include a number of elements. It will set forth a vision for effective water resource management in northeastern Illinois and will identify critical issues facing the region. In response to these issues, the plan will identify several basic guiding principles or objectives. For each of these objectives, it will present a series of recommended strategies and actions, and suggest the entities responsible for their implementation. The recommendations may include needed new legislation, changes in agency practices or funding allocations, improved public education, and areas for further study.

While the plan's principal audience will be decision-makers at the state and local government levels who will be responsible for plan implementation, it will also be addressed to private citizens, landowners, and developers concerned with improving water management practices.

The planning process will facilitate the involvement of public and private stakeholders, in a manner similar to that used in the development of the Commission's Strategic Plan for Land Resource Management in 1992. A Water Resources Advisory Committee and a series of task forces are being established to advise the Commission throughout this process. At the NIPC annual conference on March 16, a session will be devoted to discussion of regional water resource issues.

There is agreement among regional water resource management agencies and constituencies that an updated regional water resources plan would be a valuable undertaking. This follows previous expressions of regional consensus on pressing water resource issues, such as the activities leading to the authorization of countywide stormwater planning and more protective floodplain rules for the six- county area following disastrous flooding in 1986 and 1987.

The decision to initiate the new planning process follows completion of an evaluation of NIPC's water resource policy plans. These plans, adopted during the 1970's, address water quality, flooding and stormwater drainage, and water supply. The evaluation, in which NIPC staff were aided by an advisory group of water resource technical and policy experts from throughout the six-county region, led to several conclusions.

• The region is faced with numerous important water resource management challenges and issues. These include how to prevent increases in flood damages as new development continues in outlying areas; how to cost-effectively restore the numerous degraded streams and lakes in urban and suburban areas and prevent future degradation; how to better plan new development to make it more cost- effective, sustainable, and water resource-friendly; and how to assure the adequacy of groundwater and surface water supplies as growth accelerates in the region.

• The Commission's policy plans are, to varying degrees, outdated. Revisions are needed to address updated local, state, and federal laws and policies, to reflect improved understanding of evolving technical issues, and to build on twenty years of experience in devising innovative techniques to better manage water resources.

• The physical and political circumstances related to water resource management in northeastern Illinois differ in many respects from those in the rest of the state. For example, the region contains the entire length of the state's Lake Michigan shoreline, a large share of the state's glacial lakes, two-thirds of the state's population, and a much higher population density and land coverage than the remainder of the state. The region's regulatory structure is much more evolved and complex than the rest of the state, and it is experiencing a rapid, unprecedented expansion of urban land development.

A successful plan will improve the ways the region perceives and manages water, consistent with the principles of sustainability, multi-objectivity, cost-effectiveness, and intergovernmental cooperation. Ultimately, water in all its forms and uses - including wastewater and stormwater - will be viewed as a resource to be appreciated and wisely utilized, rather than as a problem to be disposed or hidden from view.

For further information on the water resources planning process, contact Dennis Dreher at NIPC at 312/454-0400.