Sec. 2. (a) The General Assembly finds and recognizes that:.

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Sec. 2.

(a)The General Assembly finds and recognizes that:

(1)Illinois' 2,900 lakes and 82,000 ponds provide many economic and social benefits including fishing, swimming, boating, water supply, wildlife habitat, flood control, tourism, and property value enhancement; and that the public uses and benefits of Illinois' water resources are heavily concentrated on lakes;

(2)in an assessment made by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in 1988, 86% of the number and 88% of the acreage of assessed lakes had impaired uses, caused primarily by nuisance growth of weeds and algae, turbidity, sedimentation or toxicants;

(3)long-term improvements in the State's lake resources can be realized most effectively if comprehensive lake management strategies are implemented; and

(4)implementation of these comprehensive strategies requires a careful analysis of the cause and effect relationships between lake impairments and the causal factors found both in the lake and in the lake's tributary watershed.

(b)The General Assembly further recognizes that:

(1)improved lake uses and water quality could result from a greater role in lake management by the State;

(2)implementation of lake restoration and protection programs has been and likely will continue to be largely the responsibility of local interests; and

(3)incorporation of 4 principal strategies into a lake management program administered by the State would greatly aid in the achievement of higher quality lakes:

(1)public education,

(2)technical assistance,

(3)monitoring and research, and

(4)financial incentives for local lake management interests.