Morton Grove trustees mull ways to offset Chicago water-price hike

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Updated: March 3, 2012 8:10AM

How much is clean water worth?

That’s the question Morton Grove village trustees addressed as Ryan Horne, village manager pro tem, delivered his report at the Jan. 23 village-board meeting.

The board is considering its options as it faces an increase of 25 percent as of the beginning of this year in the rates charged by the city of Chicago to provide water. The increases will continue at the rate of 15 percent for the following three years.

“Morton Grove deserves clean water from a reliable source,” Horne said. “One of my favorite quotes comes from UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). It says, ‘The best way to head off the effect of an emergency is to empower local communities to care for their water supplies, and for governments to make investments that will ensure water and sanitation security even during the toughest times.’

“How much is clean water worth? Is bottled water healthier?”

At $2.99 a gallon, milk costs 2.34 cents per ounce; at $3.50 per gallon, gasoline costs 2.73 cents per ounce; and at 99 cents per 20 ounces, bottled water costs 4.95 cents per ounce, Horne said.

“Municipal water costs 0.0117 cents per ounce,” he said.

According to village ordinance a residential customer pays $6.83 per 1,000 gallons of water.

“The FDA oversees bottled water,” Horne continued. “Even water defined as ‘bottled water’ is not specifically required to meet treatment, contamination or testing standards as strict as those applicable to city tap water.”

Horne said the national Environmental Protection Agency requires the village to test, at one-hour intervals, the water that flows through its mains.

The village has yet to adopt any increase in rates so far, but it is locked until 2018 into a water-supply contract with Chicago.

“We’re working with neighboring communities to see where else we can look to buy water,” Horne said.

He also noted the village’s water-main system needs maintenance.

“We should replace a mile of pipe a year,” he said. “We have 85 miles of pipes. The last time we replaced a mile of pipe, it cost the village nearly $1 million.”

Horne said the village’s 500,000-gallon reservoir is nearing the end of its life.

With all of these financial issues looming, Horne said, suggestions to help ease any financial pain include going to monthly billing to make it easier on residents’ budgets and looking for a new supplier of Lake Michigan water.

Trustee John Thill suggested instituting a deposit on bottled-water bottles, Thill said he picks up many discarded water bottles in his duties as a forest-preserve conservator.