The four northwest suburbs that make up the Northwest Water Commission are letting Des Plaines tap into its pipeline so the city can scale back its dependence on Chicago water.
The boards of Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Palatine and Wheeling on Oct. 6 all approved an agreement to sell Des Plaines up to 5 million gallons of water per day from the commission, officials said. The votes now seal the deal for Des Plaines and the commission, both of which have already signed off.
“This contract is a great management for those (joint) assets and allows us to retain control of assets that are funded by the taxpayers,” said Thomas Glasgow, an Arlington Heights trustee.
The four member cities pay $1.16 per thousand gallons, while Des Plaines will pay a minimum rate of $1.78.
The rate Des Plaines will be charged by the commission is about half of what it is now paying for water from the city of Chicago. Chicago has raised its water rate by 25 percent in 2012 and an additional 15 percent per year through 2015, officials said.
Des Plaines has been looking for a cheaper water source for about two years, and the new suburban agreement is expected to save thousands of dollars per day as its dependence on its existing water supply is scaled back.
Des Plaines uses about 6 million gallons of water per day, and the proposed agreement allows it up to 5 million gallons of water per day from the commission, the memo said. Des Plaines will continue to tap into Chicago water for its remaining needs and as an emergency backup.
Officials said Des Plaines has set aside $6 million to design and build a transmission main for its new water source. The 6,500-foot-long pipeline between the commission’s storage tank and the city’s pumping station on Central Road will take about a year to build.
The Northwest Water Commission is on the hook, however, to pay up on the construction costs if it terminates the 20-year deal with Des Plaines in the first 10 years.
The annual net revenue for the commission is expected to total $2.5 million, which will be used for system improvements and to stabilize rates.
That will be good news for Arlington Heights. In September, the largest member city of the commission approved five years worth of rate hikes for its residents, increasing water bills by 5 percent in the first year and 19 percent in the second year. Additional 5 percent increases are also in line for each of the subsequent third, fourth and fifth years, according to meeting minutes.