Illinois community group leverages Xylem monitoring technology to champion orphan lakes

What is an orphan lake?

“Orphan lakes.” It’s a term few know, yet it reflects a global issue – water bodies without any group committed to their care. 

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 50% of inland lakes are impaired. In Lake County, Illinois, the problem is worse: of the county’s 173 lakes, 70% are impaired, says the Illinois EPA, and only 4% have management plans. High phosphorus levels from agricultural and lawn runoff have fueled recurring harmful algae blooms.

Now, a passionate group of citizens is changing that – leveraging Xylem’s technology and expertise to monitor lake health, raise awareness, and drive collective restoration.

Lake County residents unite for local lake health

Five years ago, Mary Conley Eggert, a former tech executive and founder of nonprofit Global Water Works (GWW), learned of an enzyme technique restoring lakes in India. Inspired, she and eleven neighbors began raising awareness of potential solutions. That effort grew into Lake County Lake Lovers, operated under GWW.

“In a county named for lakes, it troubled me to hear people say there were no solutions to the algae problem,” says Eggert.

Since 2022, Lake Lovers has grown from 12 founding members to a 188-member community, with another 293 residents attending events or advocating for change. The group focuses on measuring lake health through citizen science, making data public, building trend lines, inspiring high school limnology programs, collaborating with companies and governments, and fundraising for restoration.

How is Xylem supporting monitoring and community science in Lake County?

In September 2024, five Xylem employees volunteered at Buffalo Grove High School’s first Watershed Day, created and led by Lake Lovers. The collaboration sparked new relationships and led to a product donation from Xylem’s Watermark corporate social responsibility program that November.

To help expand access to consistent, reliable water quality data, Lake Lovers launched a pilot in January 2025 that brought lake leaders together for hands-on training with Xylem equipment. As part of the training, each group agreed to make its data publicly available to benefit the wider community. Twelve lakes joined the effort, recruiting volunteers to collect biweekly samples from April through October using Xylem’s YSI ProDSS digital water quality meter and two photometers.

What was the impact of the 2025 lake monitoring pilot?

Without the donated tools, eight of the 12 participating lakes would have had no 2025 data at all. Traditional lab tests can be costly and slow. with phosphorus results sometimes taking weeks to return. The Xylem equipment provided immediate, no-cost readings, freeing funds for lake treatment efforts and expanding phosphorus sampling to pinpoint high-concentration inlets. The estimated savings: $8,400 per lake, more than $100,800 across the pilot.

“This pilot would not have happened without Xylem,” said Paul Spiewak, Tech Team Lead and retired analytical chemist. “The professional-grade equipment enabled reliable data.”

How are volunteers turning data into action across Lake County?

Over seven months, 31 volunteers rotated instruments across the 12 lakes, sampling twice a month and contributing more than 2,800 hours. Nicknamed the Tech Team, they met monthly to share learnings and improvements.

Data was posted monthly to a public Google Map with trend-line graphs so anyone could follow changes over time. This transparency spurred local action – in one case, the Village of Island Lake redirected its annual fireworks budget toward lake improvements after seeing the need firsthand.

In July, Lake Lovers hosted Lake Stories: The Good – The Bad – The Mucky, an event that drew more than 100 attendees. Pilot participants shared how the new data was guiding decisions to improve their waters.

By October, Lake Lovers invited teams to present a scientific summary of their 2025 results, the effectiveness of their actions, and plans for 2026 to a panel of regional experts. Four lakes stepped forward, embracing the opportunity to strengthen their work through scientific review.

What’s next for Lake Lovers and their growing restoration efforts?

Lake Lovers received a second Xylem donation in September 2025 – another ProDSS meter with a 60-foot cable – expanding their ability to monitor deeper lakes and broaden coverage in 2026.

A blueprint for resilient water communities

This project demonstrates how accessible technology, data transparency, and local passion can revive waters that once seemed overlooked. With support from partners like Xylem, residents have turned orphaned lakes into community learning hubs – places where volunteers, students and local leaders come together to understand water challenges and act on them.

It also reflects three core pillars of Xylem’s sustainability and social impact work: in-kind technology donations, skills-based volunteering, and empowering young people to engage in water stewardship. Efforts like this are part of a broader movement, as Xylem collaborates with communities around the world to expand access to water education, strengthen local resilience, and help create healthier, more vibrant water ecosystems for generations to come.