Tuesdays at APA

Regional Water Supply Planning in Northeastern Illinois

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 • 5:00 p.m.

Residents of Illinois have taken water availability for granted for far too long. With Chicago sitting on the shores of Lake Michigan, it is easy to forget that the Great Lakes are a finite resource. In addition, under the Great Lakes Charter and Annex, much of the growing areas of the region do not have access to Lake Michigan water.

Scott Goldstein of the Metropolitan Planning Council and Martin Jaffe of the University of Illinois at Chicago discussed a new regional planning process currently underway for an 11-county region of northeastern Illinois. Led by staff of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), the Regional Water Supply Planning Group (RWSPG) is working over the next two years to develop a regional water supply plan for the area. Goldstein and Jaffe are members of the group, representing planning, public interest, and academic interests. They provided background on this initiative, presented the scope of the effort, and discussed how planning can bring a unique perspective to protecting this vital natural resource and be a tool to guide land-use decisions.

About the Speakers

Scott Goldstein is the vice president of policy and planning for the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), a nonprofit group of business and civic leaders committed to serving the public interest through sensible planning and development policies. He led the strategy to develop and pass the first major update to state planning legislation since the 1920s in Illinois, and was the author and lead negotiator for stormwater management legislation that passed in the spring 2005. He built consensus for a gubernatorial executive order for regional water supply planning in Illinois, and has organized coalitions that have improved the education funding system in the state. Goldstein received a Master's in Urban Planning from Columbia University in New York, and a B.A. from Tufts University.