Buffalo Grove approves selling Lake Michigan water to Long Grove

Downtown Long Grove, known for its festivals celebrating apples, strawberries and chocolate, will give visitors something else to celebrate — Lake Michigan water.

Long Grove is expected to approve an intergovernmental agreement Tuesday allowing the village to buy water from Buffalo Grove.

Buffalo Grove trustees on Monday approved their end of the bargain, which calls for Long Grove to receive up to 260,000 gallons per day for up to 20 years. Buffalo Grove officials estimate initial revenue at $80,000 annually.

Long Grove Village Manager Chris Sparkman said the water will serve the downtown district, which currently is served by a deep well — only one subdivision, Herons Landing, in the village receives Lake Michigan water through Lake County.

Buffalo Grove Deputy Village Manager and Director of Public Works Michael Skibbe said the village will apply the funds toward village infrastructure improvements. He said the village is able to sell water because it has excess capacity as the result of a reduction in water usage.

The connection would cross Arlington Heights Road north of Thompson Boulevard. The water will be fed to the Long Grove reservoir through a protective air gap.

Long Grove would have to build a new connection pipe, Skibbe said. Sparkman said Long Grove would receive a $960,000 federal grant secured by Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

It is the second such agreement for Buffalo Grove, which will sell water to the Pekara/Horatio Gardens subdivisions in Lake County. That will come online this year.

Sparkman said Long Grove was looking at costly retrofitting of the existing well system if the village didn’t latch onto Buffalo Grove.

Construction is expected to start this year and be ready by next year.