Effective immediately, the city of Lake Forest, Ill., is imposing a sprinkling/watering ban. In order to avoid enacting a boil order for potable water, all outside irrigation and lawn sprinkling systems must no longer be used until further notification.
The Public Works Department posted signage throughout the community and made phone calls to the city's largest water consumers. However, a good portion of heavy water users are homes with automatic sprinkling systems.
The ban is being imposed because homeowners with automatic sprinkling systems are not adhering to the even/odd day watering restrictions.
Also, a large algae bloom has consumed Lake Michigan and is continuing to clog the filters at Lake Forest's water plant. This clogging of both the water plant's pre-filters and membrane modules has greatly reduced the amount of water the plant can filter in a 24-hour period.
"This summer, algae has become an increasing problem across all of the Great Lakes," according to Public Works Director Michael Thomas. "It is visible even in the smaller ponds in Lake Forest, such as the pond at Townline Community Park. But residents should be reminded that algae does not affect water quality after the water plant's filtering process takes place."
Source: City of Lake Forest
