Water sampling of Caribou Lake has been going on for years, and property owners around the lake may be paying for it to continue.
Cook County Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson proposed that the county assess a fee through the subordinate service district (SSD) that covers Agnes, Ward, Bigsby, and Caribou lakes.
A document by Bob Reid of the Caribou Lake Property Owners Association states that volunteers have been conducting water quality sampling of Caribou Lake for many years, with shipping and analytical costs paid largely by the association. Two grants helped pay for three of seven sites that were sampled five times in 2008, but Reid would like all of the estimated 165 property owners in the watershed to share the cost of ongoing monitoring.
This year, the Caribou Lake Property Owners Association, which has fewer than 100 members, will pay for monitoring two sites at an estimated cost of $200 per site. A grant is paying for sampling of three more sites, but the association “has decided that five sites will better provide water quality data,” Reid wrote.
Why does the monitoring need to continue? Commissioner Jan Hall asked.
It’s not necessary, Nelson answered, but it’s helpful. Water quality has improved since an Alternative Urban Area Review (AUAR) was conducted five years ago and since septic systems have received more inspections, he said.
What brought about the improved quality? Commissioner Fritz Sobanja asked.
Caribou Lake is “complex,” Nelson replied, with numerous other waters emptying into it, so that question has been hard to answer.
Empirical data rather than assumptions should be used when attributing causes of water impurity, Sobanja stated. He suggested that the flood of 2008 could have washed out biological materials that had been building in standing water for years.
The cost of monitoring five sites five times a year is estimated at $6 a year for each property owner in the SSD.
The board unanimously approved a motion to hold a public hearing on using the SSD to fund water quality monitoring for the next five years.
Nelson will go before the county board on August 18 regarding extension of the AUAR for another five years. The original AUAR was initiated when nearby property owners expressed concerns about a proposed housing development. It was conducted as an alternative to an environmental impact statement because it gave a more comprehensive picture of the impact of land use throughout the entire watershed. The AUAR, which helps ensure accountability from all property owners, must be updated every five years to continue.
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