By John Raffel
Correspondent
ALLEGAN – Allegan County commissioner chairman James Storey said the water study work group, organized by the Board of Commissioners, has been exploring the condition of the county’s underground aquifer with a focus on its quantity and quality.
“Using the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds appropriated to the county, the study group retained the water resource engineering group Williams and Works to help spearhead the inquiry,” Storey said. “The group is drilling monitoring wells to gain a better understanding of the aquifer’s condition. While preliminary information indicates an adequate supply for current needs, as the county continues to grow, the study group wants to understand the projections for future demands on the aquifer.
“To that end, it has scheduled a water summit in Hamilton on April 23 for local governments to hear the results of the group’s inquiry.”
Storey also said the area’s snowmobile enthusiasts organization were rocked with a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announcement that it was closing a portion of an existing snowmobile trail because of concerns over a butterfly. A zoomed meeting was held last Friday with DNR staff to discuss the arbitrary decision that forces snowmobiles to use county roadways.