Warning: Mahomet Aquifer water supply has limits

CHAMPAIGN – A proposed ethanol plant in northwest Champaign will take up roughly 10 percent of the remaining local capacity of the Mahomet Aquifer, and Champaign County officials need to start thinking now about future water use, the chief of the Illinois State Water Survey is warning.

Derek Winstanley, chief of the Champaign-based water survey, wrote in an Oct. 27 letter to the city of Champaign that the aquifer can safely support about 16 million or 17 million gallons a day of additional local withdrawal. Current local water usage from the aquifer is 30 million gallons a day.

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