Yorkville entering National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation

To promote sustainability, Yorkville is encouraging its residents to participate in a national water conservation challenge.

In past years, the National Mayor’s Challenge shined a spotlight on the Yorkville community, with the city placing fifth nationally in both 2022 and 2018 in their city-population category.

The 11th annual National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation is hosted by the Wyland Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Residents interested in joining the challenge to conserve water, energy, and other natural resources can sign-up online at mywaterpledge.com where they can select from different pledge options.

“We’ve participated in this every year, it’s a water conservation pledge that we publicize,” Bart Olson, city administrator, said during a public works meeting. “The resolution endorses our support.”

This year’s challenge also features pledges and challenges for school district’s to participate.

City standings in the challenge are listed on the website. Participants can monitor how their successful pledges positively affect their communities.

“A sustainable water source for the City’s future water supply is a main focus for our community and its residents,” Yorkville’s draft statement in supporting the challenge reads. “Yorkville currently obtains its water from the deep sandstone aquifer, which is being steadily drawn down as it is being pumped beyond its long-term sustainable yield due to increasing water demands and growth of the region. The City is committed to building strong, collaborative relationships regionally for sustainable water use. We hope to partner with our neighboring communities and our actual neighbors to promote water conservation efforts in the home. By taking the water pledge, you can help extend the capacity of the City’s water supply.”

Because the region’s large population growth has led to unsustainable usage of the aquifer for water consumption, the city is spending more than $100 million to construct the infrastructure necessary to connect to Lake Michigan water. The official switch to Lake Michigan water will be in 2028.

Underground aquifers can take tens or hundreds of thousands of years to replenish once harvested unsustainably.

The city hopes the challenge encourages residents to be more aware of the importance of the natural resources they use on a daily basis, the need to protect those precious resources, and how quickly small actions can add up to benefit the whole community.