Hoffman Estates, Elgin talk emergency water

In the case of a water supply emergency in the future, portions of Hoffman Estates may be saved by Elgin instead of by a well within the village.

Public works director Joseph Nebel said Monday that representatives from both municipalities have recently discussed the possibility of paying Elgin to supply the western end of Hoffman Estates with water in the case of an emergency, such as a large water main break.

The village has hired an engineer to study the potential interconnect and to provide a cost estimate before any decisions are made, Nebel said.

The reason the village is exploring the possibility, he said, is because of the condition of the wells that currently pump emergency water for the western end of the village, an area that has grown substantially in recent years.

There are seven wells in Hoffman Estates that can be used in an emergency to pump water. The wells range between 30 and 50 years old. None have been used regularly since the early 1980s when the village switched to Lake Michigan water, which the village buys from Chicago.

The wells on the west end of the village were installed in the late 1970s, Nebel said. He didn't know exactly how much it would cost to rehabilitate the western wells, but noted that rebuilding and reinstalling a well in the northern part of the village cost $160,000.

Getting emergency water from Elgin instead of installing a larger well or rehabilitating the current wells that supply water to the western end of the village may be more cost-effective, Nebel said.

While the recent water rate increase by Chicago — the village's current supplier of water that is used every day throughout the village — has led to talk about searching for alternative suppliers, Nebel stressed that the possible intergovernmental agreement with Elgin has nothing to do with that issue.

“We're not going to buy water from Elgin on a daily basis,” he said, adding that water from Elgin would be used strictly for emergencies and that the idea was originally discussed more than five years ago.

He expects the engineer to finish work within the next month or two and expects more discussions to take place between Hoffman Estates and Elgin afterward.

If an agreement is made, the wells that provide emergency water for the western end of the village likely would be abandoned, Nebel said.