Water at the gravel pit - what about it?

At last week's Woodstock City Council meeting water was a big controversy. What water? The water (i..e, the groundwater) at the gravel mining project on U.S. 14 was the hot topic.

In seeking "consensus and resolution" with Merryman Aggregates, the City Council agreed to follow the water testing standard of the Environmental Health Division of the McHenry County Department of Heath (MCDOH). The Council heard statements from Rich Zirk, project manager for Merryman, about current quarterly water testing and the sufficiency of annual water testing. Merryman wanted the City to follow the County's guidelines, and the City Council did.

The Council also heard from pit-area resident Matt Gilbert, who had made his own call to the Health Department before the Council meeting, and he disagreed with the remarks made by Zirk.

The members of the Council seemed relatively uninformed of the County's water-testing policy. At least one member thought that, if the County says it's okay, then it's okay.

Late this morning a Groundwater Protection Specialist at the Environmental Heath Division was getting a work-out on the question of Woodstock's water contamination, and I had to wait 30 minutes to see her. It was worth it. Standing in the office there was a lot more fun than waiting on Hold. She is knowledgeable, and she was very helpful and unhurried in answering my questions.

I left last week's City Council meeting, believing that Merryman would have to test water only annually under the County's revised standard.

After a phone conversation yesterday with a knowledgeable resident, I understood it a little differently. When I went into the MCDOH office this morning, I thought that the gravel pit would have to test quarterly for two years and then could automatically go to an annual testing schedule. Wrong...

A company has to build a baseline of water testing on a quarterly basis for two years, and then it can request a change to annual testing. But it's not automatic. After the two years, then an analysis is done and data are evaluated, before a decision is granted for annual testing.

Once again, the Woodstock City Council may have moved too fast on the gravel-mining operation, but it might not bite them because of the County's actual guideline.

It didn't have all the information before it made a decision. In this case it had plenty of time between the December Plan Commission meeting and the City Council meeting on February 3rd to call the MCDOH. It even had time between the pow-wow on January 20th and the February 3rd meeting.

Not that the Amendment to the Special Use Permit can't be undone or corrected. But it might be okay as it is, because the MCDOH will provide an important protective buffer.