Editing DePue, Illinois (section)

==Lake DePue==
The lake and adjacent park feature wildlife and recreation. The [[American Power Boat Association]] (APBA) and the DePue Men's Club (a social and volunteer organization) host a weekend of boat racing on Lake DePue. The event draws spectators from across the country and brings entertainment and food vendors to the lakeside park. [[Barack Obama]] visited when he was an Illinois legislator. In a January 16, 2011, news story featured in the online edition of the [[Journal Star (Peoria)|Peoria ''Journal Star'']], Associated Press reporter Tammy Webber reported that the [[oxbow lake]], surrounded by a [[Superfund]] site, is polluted by high levels of metals such as [[zinc]], [[lead]], [[arsenic]], [[cadmium]], and [[chromium]] because of the [[smelting]] activity that takes place there for the automotive and appliance industries, chiefly by [[Horsehead Corporation|New Jersey Zinc]] and [[ExxonMobil|Mobil Chemical]]. The village is urging Illinois Attorney General [[Lisa Madigan]] to investigate whether the [[Illinois Environmental Protection Agency]], which has oversight over the case, is pushing the companies hard enough.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stark |first=Kevin |date=November 24, 2015 |title=DePue continues 20-year struggle to cleanup toxic pollution |url=https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/depue-continues-20-year-struggle-to-cleanup-toxic-pollution/ |access-date=April 23, 2023 |website=Medill Reports Chicago |language=en-US}}</ref> This is important because the town alleges the companies and the IEPA have not done enough to combat the pollution that has made the lake markedly shallower. This phenomenon could, unless rapidly remedied, soon interfere with the small municipality's efforts to keep its remaining revenue source for most supplemental projects, the competition. The manufacturing jobs have now entirely disappeared.

In the summer of 2012, as a result of both the summer's drought and Lake DePue's pollution, the APBA nearly cancelled its National Championship Races due to the shallow water.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://newstrib.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=30&ArticleID=20765 | title = DePue boat races in jeopardy | work = LaSalle News Tribune | first = Jared | last = Bell | date = July 12, 2012}}</ref> In a display of community and hard work, DePue's citizens built a dam at the mouth of the lake and raised the water by using pumps and the lake's springs to the level required for racing in a matter of weeks.