Clock's ticking on Hawthorn Woods water system's future

If the village of Hawthorn Woods wants to step in and take over the troubled Glennshire water system, it needs to do it soon, Lake County officials say.

"The deadline from the attorney general is upon us," said Lake County Board member Pam Newton, who represents the area Glennshire is in. "We have extended as much grace period as we can."

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency last year ordered the county, which owns the water system, to replace the 20 wells after repeated violations.

The county says the purchase agreement, signed in the 1970s, requires the 224 homeowners in the system to pay for the multimillion-dollar upgrade.

Residents voted to install a new, county-operated water system earlier this year, but issues about a location for a storage tank and the price of water caused some to question the county option.

Soon after, the village of Hawthorn Woods offered to buy water wholesale from private provider Aqua Illinois and resell it to residents.

At the time, members of Citizens For Equitable Water Solutions, a residents group formed to address the Glennshire issues, said the village plan had promise.

On Wednesday, the county public works and transportation committee met and directed Public Works Director Peter Kolb to send a letter to Hawthorn Woods seeking a written proposal, Kolb said.

"We need to talk," he said. "We need to understand from the village what they would like to see."

But Kolb said the deadline for a possible response is quickly approaching.

By the end of November, the county must sign a consent order with the attorney general that would describe "what we're going to do and when we're going to do it," Kolb said. "It's time to actually get the project moving."

Newton acknowledges the county is not against the idea of a village-owned system.

"If a municipality wants to take this on, we know first-hand it is not a profitable system," Newton said. "It doesn't matter who bills (the residents). They need water."