Illinois city plans to source its future drinking water from Lake Michigan
Enlarge / Waves roll ashore along Lake Michigan in Whiting, Indiana. (credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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The aquifer from which Joliet, Illinois, sources its drinking water is likely going to run too dry to support the city by 2030-a problem more and more communities are facing as the climate changes and groundwater declines. So Joliet eyed a huge water source 30 miles to the northeast: Lake Michigan.
It's the second-largest of the Great Lakes, which together provide drinking water to about 10 percent of the US population, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office for Coastal Management.