The Mahomet Aquifer is the main source of ground water for much of east central Illinois, including the Champaign-Urbana area.

According to the Illinois State Water Survey, the Mahomet Aquifer – a large, sustainable, underground supply of water – is not experiencing any problems with supplying water to the surrounding regions, but officials are concerned about its ability to do so in the future.

Allen Wehrmann, director of the Center for Groundwater Science at the Illinois State Water Survey, gave a seminar discussing the sustainability of groundwater in the Mahomet Aquifer at the Illinois Waste Management and Research Center on Wednesday.

“Our major concern is our ability to continue to supply water into the future,” Wehrmann said. “We are looking toward the year 2050 and the potential demand (that time may bring).”

Officials have been running different potential scenarios for future years.

They are attempting to calculate the effects that issues such as population growth, climate change and even a possible drought will have on the amount of water that can be pumped from the aquifer.

The Champaign-Urbana region uses about 23 million gallons of water from the aquifer daily, the highest in the area, Wehrmann said.

“We really want to advance the science of the aquifer. We want to look at its current uses, potential uses and how to better map and define (it),” said Craig Cummings, director of Bloomington’s water department and the Mahomet Aquifer Consortium, an organization dedicated to preserving the Mahomet Aquifer.

One problem officials have encountered has been the high price and small amount of funding for such work.

“We are doing research on something we can’t physically see,” Wehrmann said.

Cummings added that researchers and planners have received some funding, but they’ve barely scratched the surface.

As research and forecasting continue, Wehrmann and the Center for Groundwater Science acknowledge that there is not a problem with the aquifer or the amount of water right now, but that they are preparing for the future.

“We don’t want to look back and ask why we didn’t do anything,” Wehrmann said.

Wehrmann and Cummings both said that the most residents can do at this point is be aware of the situation and the concerns for the future.

“People think that what they do at their own home won’t impact the aquifer, but it can,” said Cummings.

Officials agree that if nothing is done to preserve the aquifer and if current usage increases, problems may arise.

“There could be impacts on the aquifer, as well as surface water. We just don’t know to what degree these impacts will be yet,” said Gary Clark, a technical adviser for the Mahomet Aquifer Consortium and the director of the Office of Water in the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Cummings added how important educating the public and raising awareness is to helping with this issue.

“People have to understand the Mahomet Aquifer is not limitless,” Cummings said. “It is a major resource; we just don’t know exactly how major it is just yet.”