Danville’s drinking water supply, Lake Vermilion, has too much atrazine. Atrazine is an herbicide that is applied to corn fields in the spring. Some of that atrazine makes its way into ditches and streams that ultimately flow into the lake. Consequently, there are times following application when the water treatment plant owned by Aqua Illinois must remove atrazine from the water so that it meets federal drinking water standards. The Lake Vermilion Water Quality Coalition is a Danville-based, multi-stakeholder group working to make the lake cleaner. Prairie Rivers Network sits on the Coalition’s board and attends their monthly meetings. This guest commentary piece in the Commercial-News is one facet of the outreach efforts we are making to encourage more conservation practices on agricultural land.
