Armed with handmade signs and containers of brown water, more than 200 steaming-hot residents, with children in tow, turned out at the Lake in the Hills committee of the whole meeting Tuesday night to complain about the quality and quantity of the village’s water supply and to demand a slowdown in development.
Upset by a recent outdoor-water-use ban and a negative Illinois Environmental Protection Agency report, many of the protesters demanded that the Village Board approve an ordinance by Aug. 1 that would cut new home starts in half.
Slow down construction “or we will take out ads in the newspaper to try and dissuade future buyers,” said Sharon Rakos, resident of the Stoney Brook subdivision.
But Village President Tina Thornrose told the crowd that the village is legally committed to several developments. That statement only produced derisive laughter from the demonstrators, who had become further agitated when the meeting was moved to outside the public works facility.
As fliers accusing the village of poor planning were circulated through the crowd, Rakos said the residents want the village to do long-range feasibility studies to determine the impact of growth on the water supply, schools, road and the overall community.
Other residents held copies of an IEPA report dated April 17 that reported serious problems in the village’s water and predicted an inability to meet summer demands.
The document was based on a March 27 field inspection.
The report said, among other things, that certain aspects of the community’s water supply did not appear to be in compliance with state requirements.
The document noted problems with ground storage and iron content and reported that the barium concentration of one well was too high.
The report also said that because of the community’s rapid increase in population, the village must increase the number of bacteriological samples and revise its bacteriological sample site plan.
As the residents pushed and shoved in front of the public works building, Thornrose tried to calm them with assurances that the community’s water was safe.
“If there were bacteria in the water that could hurt you, the IEPA would shut us down in a heartbeat,” Thornrose told the crowd.
Most of the residents were from the Big Sky and Stoney Brook subdivisions.
The water ban went into effect June 14. It prohibits residents from using water for outside activities, such as watering gardens and grass and washing cars.
Officials said the growing residential demand for water has nearly tapped out the village’s ability to pump it from the ground.
Officials said that the demand in recent weeks has strained the water pressure so much that if the ban had not been put into effect, they might have had to urge residents to boil their water before drinking it and washing with it.
The water problem is a direct result of the fact that the community’s water system renovations, such as new wells and water towers, have not been able to keep pace with the village’s booming residential and commercial development. June’s meager one-tenth of an inch of water fall so far has not helped the situation.
