With its wetlands, oak savannas, rolling hills, prairies and hundreds of lakes, Lake County boasts some of the most beautiful and ecologically sensitive landscape in the state.
But it is this landscape and the county`s proximity to Chicago that have created a host of environmental problems in the fast-growing area.
”People move here to enjoy the openness, but then they want the conveniences of shopping centers and offices nearby,” said Beth Geuzendam, a Wauconda resident who founded Balanced Interaction of Man and Environment, a conservation group.
The result is that farms and prairies are torn up by bulldozers to make way for gleaming corporate centers, shopping malls and half-million-dollar homes. Each year hundreds of trees are cut for construction of golf courses and homes, Geuzendam said, and dozens of wetlands are filled in.
The number of households in the 460-square-mile county has increased more than 20 percent from 1980 to 1990, going from 150,496 to 183,200, according to the Northeast Illinois Planning Council The council`s projection for the year 2010 indicates that the number will increase to 240,200.
A large increase also is expected in commercial and industrial construction, with the number of jobs in the county growing from 162,000 in 1980 to an estimated 306,800 by 2010, according to the council.
Not surprisingly, the county`s farmland decreased by almost 20,000 acres from 1978 to 1989, according to Robert Mosteller, deputy director of the Lake County Planning Department.
While increased density has created a rash of environmental problems, the county also is grappling with pollution created by older industries in Waukegan and Zion. As a result, environmental groups have formed across the county to press for controls on growth.
”We don`t want Lake County to become like Cook or Du Page Counties, and, in fact, it can`t be developed in the same way; it`s too sensitive an area,” Geuzendam said. ”A lot of people think that Lake County has been lost to developers, but that`s not true. More than 40 percent of our land is still undeveloped or agricultural, and 20 percent is streams or wetlands.”
Environmental groups and government agencies say that the following are the major environmental issues that the county will face in this decade:
Loss of open space
”The way we use land is incredibly wasteful,” said Stephen Christy, executive director of the Lake Forest Open Lands Association. ”We are destroying the region through our development policies.”
From Libertyville to Lake Forest to Riverwoods, developers and open-space advocates are at odds over the correct use for the approximately 100,000 buildable acres in Lake County that have yet to be developed.
Many conservationists say that most of the remaining land should be set aside as open space for passive recreational activities and wildlife habitat. But continued demand for housing, shopping facilities and business and industrial parks makes it unlikely that development will stop.
Lake County is a hot real estate market, said Eve Lee, president of the Lake County Association of Realtors. ”It has probably matched Du Page County in terms of high growth,” she said.
Pro-development forces and open-space advocates often spend years fighting over the use of one piece of property.
In Lake Forest, Highland Park and Highwood, debate continues over the future use of the 700-acre Ft. Sheridan property, while in Libertyville and Vernon Hills, a battle has raged for 10 years over how much of the 1,200-acre Cuneo estate will be preserved as open space. And in Riverwoods, residents recently tried unsuccessfully to stop Lexington Homes from developing the Thorngate Country Club golf course.
”Ideally, each community should develop only half of its land, preserving the other half for open space,” Christy said, adding that instead of approving new shopping centers on village outskirts, local officials should require developers to focus on redeveloping existing downtowns.
Some conservation groups are trying to combat development by acquiring land to preserve open space. The Lake Forest Open Lands Association now owns more than 200 acres, and the Land Conservancy of Lake County in Grayslake was formed recently with 30 to 40 members to begin acquiring property for conservation.
In addition, the Lake County Forest Preserve District owns 17,500 acres of undeveloped land.
”We`ve stepped up our purchase of land because of the public`s desire to preserve open space,” said Alan Westerman, land-acquisition coordinator for the district.
Destruction of wetlands
”Lake County has as many or more wetlands than any other county in the state,” said Waid Vanderpoel, president of Citizens for Conservation in Barrington. ”They are essential for controlling floods, recharging aquifers and providing wildlife habitats.
”In particular, wetlands are important for wildlife because many species need more than a two-acre park surrounded by homes to survive. They need large acreage, such as those found in a wetland or forest preserve.”
Lake County is important to bird migration in North America because its wetlands are used as resting and nesting areas, particularly by many species on the state`s threatened or endangered lists, among them the yellow-headed blackbird, the American bittern, the great egret and the black-crowned night heron.
”If these birds lose their habitat, over the long term we will lose them as well,” said Frank Drummond, wildlife biologist for the Lake County Forest Preserve District.
No one knows how many wetland areas are lost each year. A permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is required before a wetland area can be filled, but in the past developers have ignored the permit requirement, said Evelyn Schiele, a spokeswoman for the corps.
In other cases, a developer is granted a permit to fill in a wetland only if he agrees to a mitigation project. ”This means that if we authorize a developer to fill in a wetland area, he must compensate by creating or improving another wetland area,” said Laura Wodrich, a corps biologist.
For example, Pulte Home Corp., for being allowed to ”adversely impact”
a two-acre wetland to develop a Hoffman Estates subdivision, agreed to improve a nearby wetland area in Barrington, Wodrich said.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency, working with other state and local agencies, is developing a map of about 200 high-quality wetland sites remaining in Lake County.
”This will tell developers that it is unlikely that a permit would be issued for filling in those sites,” said Sue Elston, an EPA biologist.
Landfill cleanups and solid-waste disposal
Three old landfills in the county are listed on the national priorities list of projects eligible for federal Superfund cleanup money because they represent significant environmental hazards, according to Gregory Michaud, a spokesman for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The first, Yeoman Creek Landfill, northwest of Waukegan, has been closed since 1970. The federal EPA and the Illinois agency believe that Yeoman, an unlined landfill, contains hazardous waste that may have leached into the ground, Michaud said.
The agencies are investigating what was dumped in the 40-acre landfill, Michaud said. The areas to the north, west and east of the landfill are residential. To the south is Edward`s Field, a baseball diamond that was built over a neighboring 20-acre landfill that also is believed to contain hazardous waste. The diamond has been closed pending the outcome of the investigation.
Michaud said a second landfill, the Peterson Sand & Gravel site in Libertyville Township, is a Superfund site but will be removed from the list. Originally it was feared that hazardous waste had been dumped in the gravel pit 20 years ago, but a federal EPA investigation last year found no evidence of this, said Terry Ayers, a manager for the Illinois environmental agency.
Though barrels containing industrial waste were found on the site, the barrels were removed before they caused a problem, Ayers said, adding that
”essentially the area came up clean.”
The third site, the 74-acre Wauconda Sand & Gravel property at Bonner and Garland Roads, contains a variety of industrial and residential wastes, including heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and cyanide, that have contaminated groundwater below the landfill, said Rebecca Frey, remedial project manager for the federal EPA.
She stressed that ”though contamination by PCBs was found in one well in 1980, the contamination has not been found in any residential wells since that time” and that ”the EPA will continue to monitor wells to ensure they are free of contamination.”
A plan to clean up the site was completed in 1989, and the project should be completed by 1995, Frey said.
While the federal EPA monitors cleanup of old landfills, county officials are trying to find a means to dispose of the 2,000 tons of garbage a day generated by residents and businesses. The county`s three operating landfills are expected to be filled to capacity by 1995.
Bill Barron, assistant county administrator, is a member of the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, an intergovernmental entity formed by 34 county municipalities and the County Board to implement a plan to dispose of the county`s garbage through 2015.
”We`ve recommended that a massive citizen-education program be implemented over the next few years with the goal of helping to reduce waste by 25 percent,” Barron said.
Looking for a new landfill site, the agency is researching areas and will choose one and possibly two within two to five years, according to Barron.
Air pollution
”The highest ozone concentrations in the state have been measured in Lake County, particularly along the lakefront,” said Terry Sweitzer, a spokesman for the Illinois environmental agency`s air pollution division.
”Air quality in Lake County during peak summer days is worse than in the city of Chicago.”
The reason, according to Sweitzer, is that on hot summer days, prevailing southerly winds move pollution from early morning traffic and industrial sources north toward Lake County. The pollutants slowly drift over Lake Michigan, but then as the breezes change in the afternoon, the pollution is blown back over the land, particularly near the lakefront.
As a result, Wisconsin sued Illinois, Indiana and the federal and Illinois environmental agencies, charging that its southern neighbors lacked approved pollution-control programs and claiming that their pollution damaged air quality in southern Wisconsin.
Under a settlement reached in federal court last year, Illinois has three to five years to implement additional air-pollution controls.
In 1991, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will measure air quality in Lake County and determine pollution sources. Based on the results, the state agency will take steps to reduce air pollution, such as placing stricter controls on industrial polluters and encouraging car-pooling, Sweitzer said.
”Because of its location between Chicago and the industrial Racine-Kenosha area, Lake County is going to continue to face air pollution problems,” Sweitzer said.
Waukegan Harbor contamination
In 1976 the Illinois environmental agency discovered dangerous levels of PCBs in Waukegan Harbor and on the property of Outboard Marine Corp. The PCBs were used in the plant`s die-casting machines from 1961 until the early 1970s. Some of the PCBs escaped through floor drains into the harbor.
There are an estimated 700,000 pounds of PCBs on Outboard Marine property and about 300,000 pounds of PCBs in Waukegan Harbor, said federal EPA spokesman John Perrecone.
Acute and chronic exposure to PCBs, particularly by eating contaiminated fish, can cause liver damage and is believed to cause cancer in humans, Perrecone said.
”Fishing advisories telling people not to eat fish from the harbor have been posted since 1981,” Perrecone said. ”But you can`t take the fishing poles out of people`s hands, and some people continue to fish the harbor.”
The PCBs do not affect swimming and the use of drinking water from Lake Michigan, according to Perrecone.
”Most Waukegan residents have shown little interest in the PCB issue,”
he said. ”Boaters who use the harbor are our biggest audience.”
In 1978 the federal EPA sued Outboard Marine to have the PCBs cleaned up. Over the next decade, the EPA and Outboard Marine fought numerous battles in and out of court over how to clean the site and how to pay for it. In the meantime, in 1982, the site was added to the national priorities list, qualifying it for Superfund money.
Finally in 1988 the EPA and Outboard Marine agreed on a cleanup plan for which the company will pay the $20 million cost.
After several delays, the cleanup began in November. ”The dredging will take place from November 1991 to April 1992 to avoid disruption to boaters,” Perrecone said.
Through a treatment process on Outboard Marine property, 97 percent of the PCBs will be removed from harbor sediment and the treated sediments will be permanently stored on the site. The PCBs extracted from that sediment will be sent to a landfill as yet to be identified.
Zion nuclear plant
In January the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission put Commonwealth Edison`s Zion nuclear power plant on its watch list because of its failure to comply with NRC regulations, according to Jan Strasma, a commission spokesman. ”They are in the regulatory doghouse,” Strasma said.
Currently, both reactors are shut down because of a problem with the transformer that provides power to the plant`s safety systems, according to Strasma.
The plant, in operation since 1972, was cited for a large number of personnel errors, a need for improved maintenance and for allowing poor communication between supervisors and operators, among other problems, according to Strasma. As a result, the NRC has intensified inspections of the plant.
”The company has taken steps to improve its performance, but it has taken far too long,” Strasma added.
Edison spokesman Gary Wald said the company has begun ”an exhaustive program to correct weaknesses,” and he stressed that the problems involved performance, not safety.
”We think it`s a worrisome situation,” said David Kraft, president of the Nuclear Energy Information Service in Evanston, ”particularly because the specific problems are personnel-oriented.
”It raises questions about what`s going on there in terms of Edison`s management. It`s particularly worrisome in an older plant where management issues should have been worked out by now.”
Kraft added that his organization also is concerned about fuel pools, the high-level radioactive waste stored in pools on the site because the federal government has not been able to identify a disposal site for the waste.
John Hogan, another Edison spokesman, said, however, that there is no problem with adding additional spent fuel to the pools. ”We prefer that the federal government open a permanent waste facility for disposal of the fuel. However, that hasn`t happened.”
”Problems at the Zion plant should receive special attention because of the plant`s location on Lake Michigan,” Kraft said. ”An accident at the site could contaminate the freshwater supply for millions of people.”
Deterioration of lakes and streams
Lake County has more than 190 lakes and as many as 2,000 ponds (lakes that are smaller than six acres), said Robert Whyte, an aquatic biologist for the Lake County Health Department.
”The good news is that all of the lakes are safe for swimming and fishing,” Whyte said. But most of the lakes are undergoing cultural eutrophication (man-made escalation of the lake`s aging process) due to improperly managed development, Whyte said.
These lakes have a high nutrient content due to excess nitrate and phosphorus from fertilizers, septic systems and other runoff and are recognizable because they are full of algae and weeds, Whyte said. Eventually, if the aging process isn`t stopped, the lakes get shallower until they become wetlands, he explained.
”If development continues without proper erosion control and good watershed-management practices, the lakes` condition will continue to worsen,” Whyte said. ”Many of them won`t be around for our grandchildren to swim and fish in.”
Though fertilizers and pesticides from agriculture contribute to high nutrients in lakes, the biggest culprits are subdivisions and commercial construction sites, he said. In addition, parking lots and other impervious surfaces, built during construction, prevent water from seeping into the ground and force runoff into nearby streams and lakes.
To slow the aging of area lakes, the county has begun a process to educate homeowners and businesses on how to minimize runoff.
The county also is working with municipalities to develop lake-management programs and to enforce erosion-control ordinances. A county-wide ordinance on storm-water management is expected to further alleviate runoff by establishing storm-water retention basins and encouraging municipalities to work together to address runoff problems.
Whyte said the county has more than 400 miles of streams but that many of the streams are of poor quality because they have been rerouted for agriculture or are polluted by runoff from septic systems and fertilizers and discharge from sewage-treatment plants.
For example, the Village of Lake Zurich recently agreed to shut both of its sewage treatment plants after repeated state fines for effluent violations in relation to pollution of creeks in Kildeer and North Barrington. Under an agreement reached with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the plants will be closed by 1994, and the village`s sewage will be treated at the county plant.
All of these issues come down to this: As long as a place is desirable as a home, the more people will want to live there. And as more move in, the less desirable that place is likely to become. Such is Lake County`s balancing act for the future.
