52 great things about Lake County according to Bill Gentes

Editor's note: This is another installment in our weekly series highlighting what people like about living in Lake County. This week, we asked that question of Round Lake's mayor, Bill Gentes.

In Lake County, there truly is water, water everywhere.

And thanks to the foresight of a few, there is plenty to drink for many Lake County communities.

In 1986, several Lake County communities banded together to secure drinking water for their residents from a virtually limitless source, Lake Michigan.

"I think it's the single smartest thing a community can do," said Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes, whose community is part of the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency. "They've virtually guaranteed their water supply for eternity."

That's why Gentes believes having Lake Michigan as a source for drinking water is one of Lake County's 52 great things.

In 1986 a group of 12 communities, led by Paul Neal, then mayor of Libertyville, joined together to form the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency, or CLCJAWA for short.

Doing so freed the communities from having to purchase water from other communities or rely on groundwater sources.

Six years later, the system was operational.

It serves Grayslake, Gurnee, Lake Bluff, Libertyville, Mundelein, Round Lake, Round Lake Beach, Round Lake Park, Round Lake Heights, Knollwood, Rondout, Vernon Hills and Wildwood.

Gentes said getting water from the lake solves many problems for CLCJAWA communities.

"The water is clean, tasty and readily available, unlike some of the problems towns in western Lake County and eastern McHenry County that are on aquifers are going to have," he said. "I think it's a huge advantage for the communities that are on (the system), in terms of quality of life."