Chambana Sun

State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) sponsored Senate Bill 2515 that was passed by the Illinois Senate which establishes a Mahomet Aquifer Council that oversees the water supply. 

The bill was approved with bipartisan support on the Senate floor on Apr. 24 and will make its way to the Illinois House of Representatives. 

"Thanks to Senators on both sides of the aisle for helping protect our water supply! Unanimous," Sen. Chapin Rose wrote in a Facebook post on Apr. 24. 

Rose said that the Mahomet Aquifer Council was a recommendation from the temporary Mahomet Aquifer Protection Task Force that was established in 2017, according to The News-Gazette. 

The council would be created with a diverse group of representatives: the Illinois General Assembly, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the waste and recycling industry, environmental organizations, the Illinois State Water Survey, the pipe trades, agriculture, manufacturing, labor, healthcare and seven governments from the local level above the aquifer, as told to The News-Gazette. 

“This is a permanent body to look out for the future of the water supply in perpetuity," Rose said to the News-Gazette.

The duties of the council would be to analyze state laws and regulations, suggest recommendations based on the aquifer water quality threats for the goal of long-term visibility.

Rose said that the bill would “better position us to try to protect our aquifer into the future,” reported the News-Gazette. 

Iriquois County and the southwest portion of Cass County from Peoria to Vermillion is what makes up the Mahomet Aquifer. It provides drinking water to over 500,000 people in East Central Illinois, told by The News-Gazette. 

Rose has been a member of the Senate since 2013. Before serving in the Senate he served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2003 to 2013. The Republican received his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science with an emphasis in Economics from the University of Illinois. He then attended the University of Illinois College of Law. He was a Senior Assistant State's Attorney in Champaign County and was a prosecutor in the felony crime sector.