Excessive stormwater becomes problematic when our homes are flooded.  Less visibly, it carries pollutants to streams, rivers, and Lake Michigan, causing beach closures, erosion, and disrupting ecosystems. Green infrastructure solutions can supplement our sewer systems to help prevent flooding, at the same time improving the environment and beautifying our neighborhoods. Individual homeowners may employ green practices at their homes.  Solutions with even greater impact require efforts at the community and regional level.

Educate yourself and TAKE ACTION to start reducing water pollution and flooding today.  Below, you'll find links to sites with useful, practical information that will get you started.

STORMWATER ACTION KIT     

START HERE | Useful for All

Homeowner Solutions

Neighborhood & Regional Solutions

The Midwest is experiencing more frequent, intense rainstorms, a trend that is expected to continue in the future because of climate change.  To address this cause of heavy rainfalls, actions toward adapting to and mitigating climate change are required.  Please see the LWVUS Toolkit for Climate Change for action plans and resources to:

• learn what can be done at the individual and household levels to save energy and reduce carbon footprints,
• work within your community to set emissions-reduction goals and then develop and implement a plan to achieve those goals, and
• build grassroots support for strong action on climate change.

Selected coverage

• Chicago Tribune 7/11/14
• Homewood-Flossmoor Patch 4/18/14
• Lake Forester 7/1/14
  
  
• Quixoteville Blog 7/25/14
  

Watch

The League of Women Voters Lake Forest - Lake Bluff sponsored and recorded two very different public programs in 2014 as part of the larger Stormwater Project. Both panels of speakers were excellent and we thank the LWVLF-LB for sharing the links with us.

"Rain, Rain, Go THIS Way," recorded June 30 at Elawa Farm, Lake Forest, IL.

"Stormwater from the Ground Up," recorded September 14 at the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency (JAWA), Lake Bluff, IL.

Managing Stormwater/Protecting Lake Michigan: Determining the Future Now

On October 21, 2014, the LWVLMR joined several other Leagues of Women Voters to sponsor a special program in Northfield, IL on stormwater management in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago.  Click through to watch the video of the program and view the powerpoint presentations of the speakers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The Stormwater from the Ground Up project began in 2013 as a collaboration between the League of Women Voters of Illinois Education Fund and the League of Women Voters Lake Michigan Region.

LWVLMR acknowledges and is grateful for initial support from an Illinois Coastal Management Grant. The grant provided partial funding under the Coastal Zone Management Act, by NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management in conjunction with the Illinois Coastal Management Program, Illinois Department of Natural Resources.  

LWVLMR is thankful, also, for additional funding from Freshwater Future, to allow the project to continue into 2015, and expand into Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan.