Don't toss out baby with the lake water

As Roselle Public Works Director, my first exposure to the possibility of Lake Michigan water to DuPage County and Roselle came shortly after I began to work here in 1980. Joe Devlin was mayor then, served on the DuPage Water Commission for many years, and holds title to having been chairman for the shortest term, approximately 99 days, before legislation in Springfield brought the county into the fold.

Before that, commissioners served without pay for the good of the cause. The cause was great. Water tables were dropping, wells were drilled deeper to tap into other aquifers, and those water tables dropped dramatically, too. Water quality was poor with hardness, iron, sometimes hydrogen sulfide - rotten egg odor, and the deeper wells brought us radium-laced water.

In Roselle it was not uncommon to have an average of 300 water quality complaints - per month. In 1992, Lake Michigan water began flowing in Roselle. Today, we might have four water quality complaints in a year.

The municipal portion of daily consumption from the commission probably exceeds 90 percent, with private and county consumption accounting for the rest. The lack of trust between municipal and county officials goes back before my time, was reinforced with the county takeover in the mid-1980s, then the raid of $75 million by the county a few years ago, and now the financial accounting problems at DWC. Please take note of the audit text whereby "virtually everyone" interviewed mentioned the tension between the factions.

Abolishing the commission and making it a county department may play well to the public right now; it most certainly does not enhance the municipal rate payer's viewpoint. I urge you to carefully consider the municipal piece of this movement. There are ways of fixing a problem without throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Rob Burns

Roselle Public Works Director