As the City of Bloomington considers how to get more water so it can grow over the next century, planners could look to the city of Joliet for an example.
One of the options under study by Bloomington would be for the city to build a pipeline to the Illinois River to supplement what it already pumps from its primary water sources, lakes Bloomington and Evergreen.
Joliet and five other communities are currently building a 60-mile pipeline to the city of Chicago to buy city water taken from Lake Michigan for their towns. It's a $1.5 billion project they hope will be finished by 2030.
Such a pipeline would be a complex undertaking for Bloomington.
Since the 1960s, state officials had warned Joliet would eventually drain the aquifer it now uses. The city did some planning in the 1980s. Another round happened in the early 2000s. Joliet didn’t get a sense of urgency until 2018, according to Alison Swisher, the city's director of public utilities. That’s when the Illinois State Water Survey said by 2030 Joliet would begin to use more water than its underground water source could supply.
Options
Joliet looked at a lot of potential solutions, including: a pipeline to the Kankakee River, a pipeline to the Illinois River, other aquifers, somehow recharging the existing aquifer, buying water from the city of Chicago, purchasing water from other municipal Lake Michigan water providers, and even building Joliet’s own pipeline to Lake Michigan around the city of Chicago to the lake shore at Hammond, Indiana.
Limited capacity and reliability nixed some of the river options. There are state laws that set limits on how much governments can pump on low-flow days, similar to the limits on a fallback option for Bloomington of pumping from the Mackinaw River during dry periods.
Water quality and even the perception of quality removed other options. There are state rules that tell municipalities they should consider the best available quality of water source.
“We know as technical professionals that any water can be treated to drinking water standards…but in our area, given we have an abundance of water sources, something that was considered in our evaluation was the public perception of the water,” said Swisher in an interview on WGLT's Sound Ideas.
There might have been an ick-factor had Joliet decided to pump from the Illinois River close to where the Des Plaines River flows into the Illinois. The city of Chicago discharges its treated sewage effluent into the Des Plaines River.
If Bloomington tried for water from the Illinois River, the access point would be further downstream. The river takes in water from assorted creeks, rivulets and watersheds that dilutes the Chicago effluent.
Other main variables were reliability, sustainability and cost. The city settled on Lake Michigan as the highest quality water source and Chicago turned out to be likely the most sustainable option — not just for now, but over the next century.
“The Will County region has a lot of opportunity for growth still, so we had to consider a water source that wouldn't just be able to meet our current demands, but also for a much-expanded system,” said Swisher, who incidentally grew up in Towanda and went to Normal Community High School.
Swisher said a partnership with Hammond, Indiana would have been more costly and perhaps would have attracted less political support from lawmakers to get the project through, putting a tight timeline for completion in jeopardy. Two states and two sets of regulatory agencies also made the choice more complex, as did the high cost of building a new treatment facility.
Why a Water Commission
Even the pipeline to Chicago is not simple at all. It crosses four counties and runs through 14 communities. That’s a lot of jurisdictions. Key to the success of the Joliet effort, Swisher said, was the decision to create a water commission. The Grand Prairie Water Commission involves representatives from six communities: Crest Hill, Shorewood, Joliet, Minooka, Channahon, and Romeoville.
“By having the water commission structure, we're able to have certain rights that a municipality on its own does not have. We're able to utilize rights-of-way and also utilize eminent domain outside of our jurisdictional boundaries to make the project happen,” said Swisher.
Without the ability to use public rights-of-way, Swisher said a municipality like Joliet or Bloomington would have to craft agreements with every landowner along the route of the pipeline. The water commission did not have to use eminent domain.
She said the process has been a good-government example because the commission took care to craft good relationships with all the governmental bodies along the pipeline route, even the ones not involved in the commission. That made communication easier at multiple stages of the project and allowed the commission and its member communities to build legislative support for sign-offs needed to get the project through.
Give and take
The six municipalities on the commission have different needs and priorities for the water they will eventually pump.
Swisher said forming the commission required compromises by all concerned. Joliet needed the project to happen fast to meet resident needs. Others had forever chemicals in their present water that they wanted to avoid. Some wouldn’t need a new water source until 2050, but signed on anyway to gain economies of scale.
Early discussion involved creating voting authority on the commission proportional to the population of the municipalities involved. Joliet would have had the largest voting bloc under that arrangement.
“That was something that Joliet had to give on in order to have the commission form,” said Swisher.
As created, each community has a single vote on the commission.
“Giving up some of that control for the best interests of our residents was something that all of our communities felt was the right direction,” said Swisher.
In return for its concession on a population weighted vote, Joliet won the right to manage the construction and improve the chance it can hit that 2030 deadline.
Money
There is no free money out there for water supply pipeline projects. Citizens will end up paying for the bulk of pipeline construction if Bloomington eventually chooses the Illinois River as a water source.
“I think there's a misperception that there's a pot of money at the federal government level to pay for projects like this. That doesn't exist. Fortunately, there are low-interest loan programs, so we're able to get the funding that way,” said Swisher.
Regionalization to spread costs across multiple municipalities helped Joliet afford the initiative and lowered barriers.
“Just the support that we've seen from our state and federal elected officials... grant programs are being written specifically for regional projects. It just definitely seemed very favorable that it's easier for them to support a large project like this, because it does support a larger population,” said Swisher.
Your water may be different than mine
Many people recall the horror story of what happened in Flint, Michigan beginning in 2014 when that community changed its water source. The new water had a different Ph balance and began eating away a protective coating that prevented lead in old pipes from leaching into the drinking water stream. Hundreds of kids and adults were poisoned. State rules take that example into account.
“Everyone's been sending water and pipes to a facility in Virginia, where they actually run water through these pipes to see what happens to the water quality when you switch it,” said Swisher.
Bloomington would have to go through that process, too.
Joliet will actually have an improvement because Chicago water is softer than the deep ground water its currently sending to residential taps.
“You don't have to have your water softener anymore,” said Swisher.
Smaller but still a heavy lift
The Grand Prairie Water Commission Pipeline to Chicago will be more than 60 miles long when complete. The first 35 miles, Swisher said, are large diameter, 66-inch pipeline starting at Chicago. The diameter reduces over the miles until the furthest southern customer, Channahon, which has a 16-inch diameter pipe entering its system.
Any potential Bloomington project would be much less than that. Just for example, as the crow flies, it’s less than 35 miles from Evergreen Lake to a spot on the Illinois River, say Spring Bay. On such a direct route, though, there would be fewer potential partner municipalities for Bloomington to share in the cost of a pipeline than Joliet had.
Bloomington would still need to bear the expense of treating its water, and possibly the cost of a new treatment plant close to the river if there are other partners who would use the water. Joliet is buying water already treated by Chicago.
Existing infrastructure challenges
Another element Bloomington must consider in evaluating a pipeline option is its existing infrastructure. The age, size, and condition of the city and village pipes vary widely among the members of the Grand Prairie Water Commission. Joliet has some of the oldest infrastructure.
Each commission member had to make a commitment separately to the state to reduce water loss, said Swisher.
“Right now, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources,[is] the party responsible for the permits issued to each community who has Lake Michigan water. Their standard is no more than 10% of your water that you are supplying into your system can be lost through leakage,” said Swisher.
Joliet’s loss rate is about 30%. So is Bloomington’s. Joliet and Bloomington both have substantial improvements planned and in progress.
Joliet also is trying to convince the state to change its standard because another component of having Lake Michigan water is a commitment to water conservation.
“As people conserve water and use less water, and you reduce non-revenue water, the percentage metric is a moving target,” said Swisher. Joliet has reduced its non-revenue water by a third, which is great and very positive, but our percentage is still just under 30%.”
Swisher said national standards on water loss say it should be measured by volume, not as a flat percentage as the state does now.
Lessons learned
Other communities have tried similar projects. Swisher said Joliet learned from what happened in Waukesha, Wisconsin that ended up connecting to Milwaukee water.
“They had struggles with having an agreement with a community, and then that community backing out, and then having to redesign their pipeline. A lot of it has to do with developing those relationships with other municipalities that really don't benefit from the project,” said Swisher.
Managing public expectations would be key for Bloomington, according to Swisher. She said an error Joliet made involved publication of “present value” calculations to compare alternatives. Those are not at all the same as actual construction and bid estimates, and as a result of the unapt comparison, media coverage dubbed the project over budget and a boondoggle. Swisher said those are not apples to apples.
“That's something I would caution Bloomington on. Be very careful when you release information about how much a project costs, because once a number is out there, everyone will, you know, refer back to it,” said Swisher, adding Joliet pledged transparency with the public from day one. It set up a project website.
“Every report and document that that we prepare gets put on that website for people to view. We had a lot of opportunities for public engagement,” said Swisher.
She said, though, the public did not engage so much, which can create sticker shock.
“As long as they turn on the faucet and water comes out, they don't really care. Not until rates start to increase do people start to care,” said Swisher.
She said Bloomington’s experience might be different, but at least Joliet provided the opportunity for engagement.
In an odd way, the looming lack of adequate water helped Joliet get the pipeline going. That’s something Bloomington does not yet have.
“Water systems in general are underfunded because it's not an exciting project,” said Swisher. “But then when the alternative is having no water, you suddenly get green lighted on doing things.”
Regionalism
Swisher said she could not encourage Bloomington more to look at regional opportunities to help out smaller systems.
“That’s definitely the role Joliet has played, being able to come in and bring people together and provide the expertise to benefit the largest number of people possible,” she said.
In a way, Bloomington already has made a start on that. Two of its top water users in the last 12 months are the Village of Hudson and the Village of Towanda. Another three are rural township or mobile home park subdivisions. The top users are:
- Rivian
- Bloomington Township Water District
- Cargill
- Ferrearo
- Village of Hudson
- Hilltop Mobile Home Park
- Bridgestone Firestone
- Village of Towanda
- Cargill [second account]
- Bloomington Township Water District [Crestwicke]
Bloomington staff said they will likely brief city council members on options and costs to develop additional water supply next month. Those also may include dredging, finding other surface water sources, various aquifers, and a regional well field.
