Community water supply well shooting/blasting near Hillcrest Subdivision, Lake County, Illinois.

The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide a summary of literature research on the use of well "shooting" or blasting technology in Northern Illinois. Water well shooting or blasting is done to increase water yield from a sandstone aquifer for a particular water supply well ... The Lake County Health Department (LCHD) detected a chemical, vinyl chloride -- from a family of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) -- in some private wells in the unincorporated Hillcrest Subdivision near Wauconda, through routine well testing done in the fall of 2003. The LCHD presented these findings to the public at a January 13, 2004 meeting. The concern was raised at the public meeting that recent subsurface water well "shooting" or blasting techniques, performed in the deep sandstone aquifer (800 to 1,000 feet below ground surface), in the borehole of a community water supply (CWS) well in the area, might have impacted the shallow aquifer in such a way as to contribute to private well contamination under investigation in the Hillcrest Subdivision.