URBANA, Ill. (WAND) — Champaign County leaders passed a 12-month moratorium to protect the Mahomet Aquifer from carbon sequestration projects.

Thursday night, more than 60 people voiced their concerns about potential leaching of heavy metals like uranium, nickel, and manganese into the aquifer if CO2 were injected underground. 

The decision gives the county time to develop zoning regulations to safeguard the major source of drinking water in east Central Illinois.

"It is our sole source of drinking water in central Illinois, supplying the city of Urbana and other communities around us. There are no reasonable alternatives for drinking water for us, it's life itself in this region." said Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin.

In October, the Champaign County Board Environment and Land Committee voted to establish a moratorium that would stop any carbon sequestration over the next twelve months.

This comes just a few months after two leaks at ADM's CO₂ injection site in Decatur. 

Citizens in Champaign County who express support for the moratorium cite the importance of having clean drinking water from the Aquifer.

"We absolutely must hold them to the fire. We have one aquifer. And the fact that our legislators failed us before shows how little they care." said, Champaign County Board Member John Farney. 

"We need to do as much as we can to protect the quality and quantity of water in the aquifer and as much as we can to reduce the risk to that." said Marlin. 

In 2015, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency designated a portion of the Mahomet Aquifer system as a sole-source aquifer. According to the EPA, over half the population in east-central Illinois depends on the Mahomet Aquifer as a source for drinking water.

While the moratorium will last one month. Several board members expressed interest of a total permanent ban in the future. 

Copyright 2025. WAND TV. All rights reserved.