Section 3730.304  Water Needs Criteria

The Department will determine anticipated water needs for each applicant. The Department will take into consideration in making that determination the population of the area to be served, projected population growth, current and projected per capita consumption within the area, the nature and extent of industrial uses (including a consideration of typical requirements for similar industries), municipal and hydrant uses (public facilities, park upkeep, fire protection), implementation of conservation practices, and the reduction of non-revenue water as required by this Section.

a)         Conservation practices that will be considered with respect to applicants in Categories IA and IB include the extent of metering, the provision of building codes for water efficient equipment, ordinances that promote the efficient use of water for lawn sprinkling and other outside uses, rate structures that encourage conservation, past record of enforcement of water saving ordinances, expenditures for maintenance and repair of water distribution systems, and implementation of specific ground water conservation levels of usage recommended by State or regional planning agencies.  The Director may establish maximum reasonable per capita consumption rates for each user based upon either an evaluation of the relative proportion of industrial, commercial and residential users served by the permittee or the efficiency of the permittee's water distribution system, or both.  Applicants in Categories IA and IB shall limit non-revenue water so that it is less than 12% of net annual pumpage in Water Year 2015, decreasing to no more than 10% by Water Year 2019 and all years thereafter.  Applicants whose non-revenue water exceeds the non-revenue thresholds (12% in Water Year 2015, decreasing to 10% in Water Year 2019) shall submit a water system improvement plan that outlines the actions the applicant plans to undertake, along with a timeframe, to reduce non-revenue water to less than the thresholds outlined in this subsection.  The Department may grant a waiver to the requirement to submit a water system improvement plan to an applicant whose non-revenue water exceeds the thresholds if it can be shown that the reason for exceeding the non-revenue water threshold is due to metered, but unbilled, consumption or to authorized, unmetered, unbilled consumption when the quantity can be determined through acceptable engineering practices.  The Department will consider this information in determining proper allocation amounts.

b)         Conservation practices that will be considered with respect to applicants in Categories IIA and IIB include improved and more accurate measurement and accounting procedures, improved treatment of all wastewater flows, elimination of untreated combined sewer bypass flows, reasonable use of aeration facilities, implementation of navigational and storm response operations, and procedures to minimize Lake Michigan diversion and implementation of effective programs of leak prevention, detection and correction.

(Source:  Amended at 38 Ill. Reg. 22801, effective November 18, 2014)