Illinois Statutes Chapter 20. Executive Branch § 1920/3.04. Water Pollution Control

(a) The Department may set aside up to 30% of each year's allocation of available abandoned mine reclamation funds distributed annually from the State share and historic coal share funds into a separate fund for the abatement of the causes and treatment of the effects of acid mine drainage in a comprehensive manner within qualified hydrologic units affected by coal mining practices. These funds shall be deposited into a special State account and will be used and accounted for in accordance with all applicable State and federal regulations used solely to achieve the priorities stated in Title IV of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. In this Section, “qualified hydrologic unit” means a hydrologic unit in which the water quality has been significantly affected by acid mine drainage from coal mining practices in a manner that adversely impacts biological resources and that contains land and water that are eligible for protection under Section 1.03 of this Act and includes any of the priorities described in Section 2.03 of this Act.

(b) The Department or such agency or department of State government as the Department may designate pursuant to subsection (d) of Section 3.05 may construct and operate a plant or plants for the control and treatment of water pollution resulting from mine drainage. The extent of this control and treatment may be dependent upon the ultimate use of the water. No control or treatment under this Section shall in any way be less than that required under the Environmental Protection Act. 1 The construction of a plant or plants may include major interceptors and other facilities appurtenant to the plan.