After years of planning and construction, Morton Grove and Niles are ready to realize a major change in their water supply. Instead of receiving their water from Chicago, which has raised its prices, they will make the switch to Evanston water. Faucets and pipes in both Morton Grove and Niles are set to fully flow with Evanston-sourced water by the end of October.
Officials from both communities said a seven-million-gallon water tank near the intersection of Oakton Street and Caldwell Avenue is expected to be operational by Halloween.
That tank will receive water pumped in from Evanston and should be the sole source of the Morton Grove and Niles water supply, bringing an end to a longstanding relationship with Chicago as the water supplier to the communities.
This culminates a years-long, involved process for both suburbs. As early as 2014, they both noted Chicago raising its water prices and considered their options. In March 2017, they formed the Morton Grove-Niles Water Commission to manage the process of switching to Evanston water, which they expected to be much more cost-effective for residents and the villages over coming decades.
“It was important for us to take charge of our water destiny in terms of what we pay. We didn’t want to be surprised by the significant increases we have seen in the past,” noted Niles Village Manager Steven Vinezeano.
For many months, Evanston has been the partial supplier of the water to Niles and Morton Grove, with Chicago being the other source.
Vinezeano said under the current arrangement, Chicago is currently charging $3.98 per 1,000 gallons. He believed that Chicago’s rate could soar to over $7 per 1,000 gallons by 2051, per what he said was a conservative projection.
The Morton Grove-Niles Water Commission charges $3.50 per 1,000 gallons currently, and the rate will change over time according to a formula in the 40-year water agreement with the City of Evanston. Vinezeano said the Morton Grove-Niles Water Commission could charge $3.25 per 1,000 gallons in 2051 after construction bonds for the newly-constructed water mains are paid off. At that point, the villages expect to realize their greatest savings.
“Now you are paying substantially less for your wholesale water, which allows you to put that money back into your infrastructure,” Vinezeano said.
The financing of the water tank, nine miles of corresponding pipes and two pumping stations came through an estimated $100 million bond made up largely from a revolving loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Morton Grove Village Administrator Ralph Czerwinski said planning and coordination for the project began in 2014, running through 2016. In 2017, design work started and last year, construction began on building the water mains from Evanston. They ran through Skokie.
The project was awarded an Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award by the Illinois American Society of Engineers banquet earlier this month.
Yet Vinezeano said there were challenges encountered along the way. They included a switch in the lead engineering team, having to modify the original plan allowing for a connection to an Evanston pipe and having to move the original site for the pumping station.
“This entire project has been a problem-solving exercise,” Vinezeano conceded.
With the project now believed in its final stages, Vinezeano still will not allow himself to take a symbolic victory lap.
“I won’t feel a sense of relief until we get 100% of the water pumping,” he said.
Czerwinski and Vinezeano hoped to plan an opening ceremony heralding the new arrangement sometime next spring.
