Rural water districts in Illinois

Research was conducted on the legal-organization, the economic and the spatial aspects of rural water systems. With encouragement from subsidized federal government credit, rural water systems serving farmers, nonfarm residents in the open country and residents of towns under 10,000 people have been developed to meet the demands for a dependable quality domestic water supply. The 59 districts financed in part by the Farmers Home Administration, USDA, and serving only farmers and nonfarm rural residence customers in Illinois were the objects of the research. In general, these systems serve 24,000 customers and maintain 4,200 miles of line. They are located in the southern, the west-central, and the east-central regions of Illinois. The systems received financial assistance from the federal government in the form of construction grants and/or low interest loans authorized initially in 1954. The systems are generally owned and operated by "water supply districts," a special unit of local government and have to comply with all operating procedures and regulations required of public water supplies under Illinois Environmental Protection Agency authority. In analyzing the costs of rural water service, districts with greater volume and/or higher user density generally had lower operating costs. The median number of users reported was 278. In 1980 dollars, the per user average outlay for operating costs and debt retirement was approximately $16.00 per month. Only 22 percent of rural water district users were farmers. Consumption levels averaged 4.64 thousand gallons per month at an average price of $5.77. The demand for rural water service was inelastic over much of the relevant range of observations. Little evidence was discovered supporting the contention that rural water service is a major force in the shift of agricultural land to nonfarm residential use.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe