Promises Made - Promises Kept
Vote April 1, 2025

Lake Michigan Water

In the fall of 2020, the City of Crest Hill began exploring other sources of water supply after minor traces of PFAS were found in our water supply system. The City of Crest Hill has shallow wells in which small traces of PFAS have been found. After much research, the City of Crest Hill realized that it would be more cost effective to join other communities and to supply our City with Lake Michigan water. It was also found that it would have been much more costly to remediate the contaminant problem and other future contaminants than it would be to purchase Lake Michigan water.

During 2021, many meetings and discussions were held in regards to our water supply system, and in November/December of 2021, four public meetings were held at the City of Crest Hill Public Works Facility, Chaney Monge School, Richland School, and Carillon Lakes Community, informing residents of the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing and acquiring Lake Michigan water. These meetings were informative and all questions were answered. On January 17, 2022, City Council unanimously passed Resolution # 1134 approving a preliminary agreement regarding formation of a regional water commission with 5 other surrounding communities to acquire Lake Michigan water. Subsequently, the Regional Water Commission, which consists of Channahon, Crest Hill, Joliet, Minooka, Romeoville and Shorewood, was formed to establish a joint solution to a regional water problem. Lake Michigan water will be sustainable, reliable, and high-quality water in an innovative, collaborative, fiscally responsible, and efficient manner for our community for many years to come. There is much infrastructure work and administrative work to be completed and our goal is to begin supplying Lake Michigan water to our residents in 2030.

Over the next two years, the City of Crest Hill has been working diligently to ascertain its Lake Michigan allocation and the formation of the Grand Prairie Water Commission, whose mission is to provide a sustainable, reliable, and high-quality water supply for member communities by 2030 and beyond in order to support public health, safety, economic interests, and quality of life. I am extremely grateful to Senator Meg Loughran Cappel and Representative Dee Avelar for their help and assistance with the passage of the Land Transfer Bill 2097 with the Department of Corrections through the Senate and the House. This bill authorized the City of Crest Hill to buy the land at Oakland Avenue and Caton Farm Road to be used to construct a Lake Michigan water receiving station on this site. The passage of this bill will be a tremendous tax savings for all of the residents of the City of Crest Hill and will also help us secure our allocation in the future to obtain Lake Michigan water. We are currently in the design stages and the start of the construction of bringing the infrastructure from the City of Chicago to our community. This will be a long project but the end result will be Lake Michigan water by 2030.

On July 2, 2024, the Grand Prairie Water Commission was officially created. This commission consists of six communities which include Crest Hill, Joliet, Romeoville, Shorewood, Channahon, and Minooka. This was a true example of six communities working cooperatively and collaboratively over the last three years to achieve the common goal of Lake Michigan water for today and the future; and whose mission is to provide a sustainable, reliable, and high-quality water supply for all six communities. The new water supply will allow the city to meet USEPA requirements of addressing PFAS and other future contaminants found in our water supply. The switch to this new water supply has also brought on new IEPA requirement that the City will now be required to meet. One of the requirements is to reduce water loss within the city system to below 10%. In order to meet this new requirement, the City has identified 10 existing water main locations that need to be replaced to provide a more reliable water main system. The replaced water mains will decrease the amount of water lost or potential for water main breaks, thereby reducing the loss of water within our system and helping the City achieve the requirement. Because of the monies we have invested into this infrastructure work throughout the City, we have successfully secured our allocation, along with the other communities, to obtain Lake Michigan water and are in the process of constructing a sixty-six inch water main from the south side of Chicago to our area with a projected delivery date of August 15, 2030. This summer final design engineering began for the City's two new water receiving stations located at Caton Farm Road and Oakland Avenue, which will accept water being supplied by the new water supply line from Lake Michigan. These two new stations will allow the new supply of water to be distributed throughout the City. These two facilities along with a new ground storage tank are currently scheduled for construction beginning in late 2025.

We, along with all of the other communities, have been and are continuing to improve our infrastructure for the delivery of Lake Michigan water. Much more work is needed to be completed, but this will improve the quality of life for our City for the next several generations.

I look forward to continue making improvements and investing in our city's future in order to enhance the quality of life for all our residents. Please vote April 1, 2025 to re-elect Ray Soliman.

Investing in Crest Hill's Future