The City of Bloomington will need to update a more than decade-old study to better understand its water needs and how to move forward.
That was among the findings presented to the city council by consulting firm Farnsworth Group in a study of the city's water usage and possible avenues for expansion.
There isn't a dire need to increase the water supply, but rather to make sure the city is protected from the effects of a future drought.
Currently, about 10 million gallons of water flow through the city's system each day on average, with a peak usage of about 17 million gallons. At maximum, the city water treatment facilities can handle just under 25 million gallons of water daily.
A 2009 Illinois Water Survey showed the city could safely use about 12 million gallons a day if a drought were to occur, also known as the "safe yield." However, Bob Kohlhase of the Farnsworth Group said that number could be different 17 years later.
Updating that survey was one of the more obvious action items that came from Monday night's Committee of the Whole meeting. Other information presented by Water Department staff showed there were some options for increasing the amount of water flowing through Bloomington.
Superintendent of Purification Scott Joyce said a new gauge installed in the Mackinaw River showed more water was available than previously thought. The city is now collecting data to get a better idea "what's going through the river," Joyce said.
Additionally, Water Director Brett Lueschen said installing new water meters and replacing old water mains has reduced the amount of water that leaks out of the system.
From June 2024 to June 2025, about 32% of the water pumped through the distribution system was not measured by the meter, meaning it leaked along the way. From June 2025 to June 2026, about 25% of the water leaked.
"Keep in mind we have water mains that are over a hundred years old. They're going to leak," said City Manager Jeff Jurgens. "And so, we have been behind as a community in going in and replacing this infrastructure."
Looking toward the future, Farnsworth Group presented just over a dozen options for increasing Bloomington's water supply to make it resilient to a future drought.
Those options include tapping into the Mahomet Aquifer, which could cost anywhere from $75 to $125 million, tapping into the Illinois River for about $175 million, or dredging Lake Bloomington for about $45 million.
The aquifer would add possibly 15 to 30 million gallons of water a day. The Illinois River would technically have a supply of 800 million gallons a day, but the city's treatment system can only handle 25 million gallons daily.
Dredging Lake Bloomington could add around 606 million gallon's worth of water storage, which would be the equivalent of 40 to 60 days worth of water.
Kohlhase said the lake would likely need to be dredged in the near future anyhow, given how long it has been since the last dredging and how much sediment had gathered.
Ward 3 council member Sheila Montney asked if the dredging could happen in stages. Kohlhase said it could and acknowledged that any plan the city moves forward with would be a years-long effort.
"We are not in a bad situation here, but we need to every year be implementing something to move closer to one of the big solutions," he said.
No formal votes were taken by the council, but Lueschen said there will be a proposal for a new study on Bloomington's safe yield within a few months.
Kohlhase said in his experience the study would need a year of data collection.
