GA_081816

10 | August 18, 2016 | The glencoe anchor news
glencoeanchor.com
THE HIGHLAND PARK LANDMARK
Highland Park turns off
three City-owned water
fixtures after lead testing
Highland Park has
turned off three water fixtures
due to elevated lead
levels after the city initiated
voluntary testing on
all city facilities.
The City shut one sink
in the Highland Park
Public Library, one sink
in the Karger Center and
one drinking fountain the
Karger Center.
The library sink, located
in a bathroom not
open to the public, tested
as having a lead concentration
of 97 parts per billion,
and the sink in the
Karger Center, located in
the upstairs men’s restroom,
tested at a lead concentration
of 21 parts per
billion, both unsatisfactory
according to the federal
Environmental Protection
Agency’s standards.
The third fixture shut
off, a drinking fountain in
a lower level hallway at
the Karger Center, tested
at seven parts per billion.
That reading is satisfactory
according to EPA guidelines,
but the City still
acted in shutting it down.
“The water fountain
only had seven parts per
billion but we still had to
shut that fixture down to
be safe,” City Manager
Ghida Neukirch said.
After the lead crisis in
Flint, Mich., cities have become
hyperaware to issues
of lead in water supplies.
Because of this, Highland
Park began proactively
testing water samples from
all City, school district and
park district facilities.
“We wanted to take a
proactive measure to test
public facilities for lead,”
Neukirch said. “We have
always operated in a manner
where we conducted
more than the state regulations
required. We as a
City are confident that our
water distribution and production
system meets standards.”
According to City officials,
the elevated lead levels
are isolated to specific
fixtures and are not reflective
of the City’s water
production or distribution
system. Fixtures that failed
testing will not be turned
on again until the situation
is fully fixed.
Reporting by Eddie Herz,
Editorial Intern. Full story at
HPLandmark.com.
THE LAKE FOREST LEADER
Sustainability plan pushes
clean energy, recycling
Lake Forest generates
702 pounds of trash per
resident each year, the second
highest out of seven
communities in the North
Shore.
On average, Lake Forest
households produce
21,571 kilowatt-hours of
electricity annually, compared
with 11,524 kwh in
Lake County.
These statistics, taken
from a 2015 Daily North
Shore study and a 2010
Municipal Energy Profile,
shed light on Lake Forest’s
waste and its absence of an
environmental action plan.
But now, as a result of
a community-wide effort,
a draft of the City’s first
sustainability plan is being
proposed as an addition to
the City’s strategic plan.
“This is a really important
piece that was missing
[from the strategic
plan],” Alderman Catherine
Waldeck said at the
City Council’s meeting on
Aug. 1, where the council
directed the draft to be
brought before the plan
commission.
In 2013, the council
approved the 2013-2018
Lake Forest Strategic Plan,
which included a goal to
develop a sustainability
plan. Two years later, the
City asked the Lake Forest
Collaborative for Environmental
Leadership to help
draft such a plan.
The resulting sustainability
plan is the product
of more than a year of effort
among multiple community
groups, including
the City of Lake Forest,
Lake Forest College, Lake
Forest Open Lands, and
school districts 67 and 115.
To begin putting a plan
for Lake Forest together,
sustainability plans from
other Illinois communities,
such as neighboring Highland
Park and Northbrook,
were analyzed.
Eventually, six objectives
of environmental
stewardship were proposed,
with goals and
measurements of success
accompanying each category.
Those categories comprise:
stormwater management
and water use, ecosystem
vitality and ravine
conservation, waste management,
renewable energy
and energy efficiency,
and transportation and air
quality.
In the plan’s current
form, it does not include
a specific action plan except
for in its appendices,
which Alderman Jack
Reisenberg called a “peak
under the tent” of a future
implementation plan.
Reporting by Kirsten Keller,
Contributing Editor. Full
story at LakeForestLeader.
com.
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