Jack and Jill didn`t have anything on Lake County. Long gone is the day when the two tykes scampered up a hill to fetch a mere pail of water. Now is the time for a colossal water pumping station, filtration plant and pipeline that will bring Lake Michigan water to nearly 120,000 county residents.
The name of the organization responsible for the mammoth undertaking is almost as long as the pipeline it`s creating: the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency, or JAWA. Heading everything is JAWA executive director Paul Neal, a former Libertyville mayor.
If everything goes according to plan, faucets in 10 Lake County communities will be pouring out lake water by February 1992, adding to the three towns that already tap the lake for their water needs. So far the project has been free of hitches. Furthermore, Neal said, it is both on schedule and under budget.
”It`s such a super big project and everyone wants to see it go,” he said. ”We`ve had super cooperation with all other government agencies.”
Though the water pumping station being constructed in Lake Bluff is Lake County`s most expensive public works plan to date ($110 million), it does not fall under the county`s direction since JAWA will eventually run the operation. Still, Lake County Public Works Supt. Martin Galantha is pleased with its progress. The pipeline project is ”not necessarily charmed,” he said, but it has been ”well planned and well executed.”
When the taps are finally turned on, it will be the culmination of several years of planning, dating back to the late 1980s, when voters approved the proposal. Galantha said the margin of victory was about 3 to 1 then, and public support has not diminished since.
”There have been no complaints from the communities involved or any individual citizen,” said Melanie VanHeirseele, Neal`s assistant. Scattered among all the well-wishers, however, are some land conservationists who fear the water line will spark unnecessary growth in the suburbs it serves.
While Neal does not deny the foreseeable population growth, he questioned whether the pipeline will be the cause behind the expansion. ”I think we`re going to get the growth anyway. Towns are getting it with well water,” he said. ”People are going to have the best water in the world. It will not affect them moving to the town. They`re already there.”
VanHeirseele added: ”The stated purpose of the project is to maintain the quality of life. It`s not being used to promote growth and development.” With the spotlight shining on the water project, some people are voicing their worries that existing water systems will be ignored. Regional Planning Commissioner Beth Geuzendam said, ”My only concern on the whole issue is, piping Lake Michigan water all over the county, you don`t care about what happens to the groundwater. We have a perfectly good water table system through the county.”
Four pipelines are being tunneled through the county, providing water to Lake Bluff, Libertyville, Mundelein, Gurnee, Grayslake, the four Round Lake communities, Vernon Hills and the Lake County Public Works Department. Currently, some towns are already purchasing lake water from Waukegan, North Chicago or Lake Forest. Those three towns are able to charge whatever they want for their water and also control the amount of water they sell to other towns. Neal said JAWA`s rates will be substantially lower.
JAWA will sell the water at an across-the-board wholesale rate to all its members, and VanHeirseele is ”fairly confident” that cost will be $1.65 per 1,000 gallons. Each community will then tack on its own maintenance and operational fees.
Though Lake Forest, North Chicago and Waukegan`s vise on the lake water supply will be loosened, officials of those towns are not concerned about the loss of their accounts. Lee Baur, superintendent of water in Lake Forest, said, ”We`re aware of them (Lake Bluff) going to the agency. They`ve put us on notice.” Though Lake Bluff is under contract with Lake Forest to purchase water beyond 1992, Baur expressed no ill feelings. ”We knew this was coming and set up the contract accordingly. There were provisions for termination. There`s no problem.”
North Chicago, on the other hand, is taking a firmer stance with the county Public Works Department. ”Whatever the contract says is what we`ll follow,” said John Rubich, the city`s water commissioner. The Public Works Department has agreed to buy water from North Chicago through 1993. Rubich does not expect any contractual problems, however, and remains skeptical that the pipeline will be finished prior to then anyway.
North Chicago Ald. Sylvester Neal added, ”We will lose that account. We won`t suffer. We have other people coming on line,” explaining that the city will furnish water to several new developments. North Chicago also has a plan under review to construct an additional water line. If approved, the pipeline will burrow under 22nd Street, tying into an existing line on Illinois Highway 137.
With the pipeline`s completion, Lake County will truly be living up to its name, with scarcely a town being without lake water. Lake Zurich, Old Mill Creek and Wauconda are among the exceptions.
Though there was some resentment among Lake Zurich officials when the referendum to join JAWA was defeated in November 1989, it has since dissipated. Deputy Director of Public Works Patrick Ryan said there has been no discussion whatsoever on joining JAWA in the future.
In spite of the exploding growth of Lake Zurich, Ryan said, the pace of growth is not depleting the town`s well water supplies. According to an independent study performed by a consulting engineer in 1990, ”The underground water should be sufficient to supply us well into the future,”
Ryan said. ”Our ability to distribute and store the water is our current problem.”
As many as four new wells will be constructed by the year 2010, and Ryan said, ”From all the estimates, it would be much less (money) to continue with the well system. According to cost figures provided by the consulting engineer, hooking up to the JAWA pipeline would have cost Lake Zurich $23.9 million. Making improvements upon the current well system that will last until the year 2020 is costing the village about $12 million.
Ryan said the village was also persuaded to continue with the current groundwater system because the supply of water would be unlimited. He said JAWA`s allocations could be curtailed by a Canadian/U.S. agency that governs the use of Lake Michigan water.
However, JAWA`s Neal said the pipeline will be capable of supplying all the water that is desired by the towns. In fact, ”The water line anticipates the dwindling water supplies some inland communities are already experiencing,” VanHeirseele said.
