PROBLEMS FROM DEVELOPMENT 143 



at low stage, and particularly when the river bed was 

 covered with silt that impeded infiltration. To increase the 

 underground storage in those periods, water was pumped 

 from the river to flood the meadows in the vicinity of the 

 gallery. By now the city has recharge basins totaling 65 acres 

 which permit infiltration up to a million gallons a day into 

 the ground. In recent years more than a third of the water 

 pumped by the city has come from artificial recharge. 



Peoria, 7//. 68 About 85 million gallons a day is pumped 

 from wells along a 15-mile reach of the Illinois River water- 

 course between Peoria and Pekin, 111., of which perhaps 75 

 million gallons a day is for industrial and commercial use. 

 Water is pumped from gravel deposits approaching a hun- 

 dred feet in thickness. In 1945, water levels were receding 

 at an average rate of 2 feet a year, and it was computed that 

 the pumpage exceeded replenishment by 7 or 8 million gal- 

 lons a day. Since then pumpage has been reduced somewhat 

 by conservation measures, and the water levels in recent 

 years have declined less than a foot a year. In downtown 

 Peoria where the saturated part of the aquifer is relatively 

 thin, there is not sufficient inflow of water at present to 

 maintain present uses, and a dozen industrial and commer- 

 cial users have already had difficulty in securing the water 

 they need. 



Hydrologic data indicate that the Illinois River is far less 



es References: "Control of Ground Water," Illinois Legislative Council, 

 Publication 88, pp. 7-8, 1948. 

 Suter, Max, Apparent Changes in Water Storage During 

 Floods at Peoria, Illinois, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, vol. 

 28, pp. 425-437, 1947. 

 Larson, T. E., Geologic Correlation and Hydrologic Inter- 

 pretation of Water Analyses, III. State Water Survey Circ. 

 27, 1949, 8 pp. 

 Horberg, Leland, "Ground Water and Geology of the Peoria 

 Region, Illinois," 111. State Geol. Survey, Unpublished rept., 

 1946. 

 Ground Water in the Peoria Region, III. State Water 

 Survey Bull. 39, in press. 



