Communities pitch for Lake Michigan water

The studies have been done, cost estimates determined and beginning Wednesday, eight communities will make their pitches for a share of Lake Michigan water.

With two systems of its own, Lake County also will be among the presenters trying to convince the Illinois Department of Natural Resources that piping Lake Michigan water across the county is the best future option.

Going individually in alphabetical order, the communities and county each will have an elected official, public works director and engineering consultant give testimony, present exhibits and answer questions at what is known as a prehearing. The session in Chicago continues Thursday.

The entities involved are Antioch, Lindenhurst, Lake Villa, Fox Lake, Volo, Wauconda, Lake Zurich and Long Grove. Hawthorn Woods also is in the mix, but will apply later.

Questions regarding the availability and quality of groundwater in the future prompted the towns and county to form a consortium to pursue Lake Michigan water.

"We treat radium in our deep wells right now. It's not just one community's problem, aquifers don't share boundaries underground," said Wauconda Public Works Director Dave Geary.

As envisioned, pipes would stretch 57 miles west and south from the Lake Michigan intake operated by the Lake County Public Water District in Zion. The system would cost an estimated $252 million, and could be operational as early as 2014 if the allocation is approved.

"It is a major public works project they are contemplating," said Dan Injerd, IDNR's chief of Lake Michigan management.

The amount of water that can be taken from the lake is fixed at 2.1 billion gallons per day per a U.S. Supreme Court decree.

There are periodic requests, which are dealt with as they come in, but it is "quite rare" to have 10 at once, Injerd said.

"There's no one community that can do this on their own - it's too expensive," said Peter Kolb, Lake County public works director.

Applicants need to demonstrate Lake Michigan is the most cost effective long-term source of water and/or show an allocation would reduce withdrawals from the deep aquifer.

Cases are bolstered with data such as projected population growth or water use.

The consortium has projected the population in the Lake County communities would increase from about 100,000 to 188,000 by 2030, and daily average water demand would double to nearly 19 million gallons per day.

If the allocations are approved, "That's going to set things for the next 50 or 100 years," Kolb said.

The prehearing is to give applicants a clear sense of whether more information or clarifications are needed in advance of a final hearing, probably in five to six weeks. A recommendation likely would follow a month or two later.

If approved, an entity to govern the system would be created and funding methods finalized.

"If we get the water, there will be a very strong public information campaign," Kolb said.