(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The city of Chicago’s largest drinking water customer has purchased a 127-acre property in Northbrook that could become a water treatment plant.
The DuPage Water Commission paid $80.5 million for the former Green Acres Golf Club property.
Commission Chairman Jim Zay called it an investment that comes as the water distributor considers alternatives after five years of talks with Chicago, which he said have failed to produce a better contract.
“If we do our own water facility and take water from Lake Michigan, this gives us the option,” said Zay. “I mean, we really couldn’t move forward unless we found a location for it.”
He estimates building a treatment plant would take about 15 years — two years longer than the contract the commission just renewed with the city.
“As the city continues not to negotiate with us and not respond to us, that window gets closed more and more because, at some point, we’re past the point of no return [and] I can’t build the plant within that 17 years,” he said.
Since the golf club closed in 2016, Northbrook trustees have considered two different residential developments but ultimately rejected them. Zay said he’s reaching out to Northbrook leaders about the former Green Acres Golf Club property, which is much larger than needed for the commission’s purposes.
Over the past five years, the commission chairman said they’ve seen their bill almost triple to supply water to about three dozen suburbs, while the city made an agreement with Joliet for a lower rate.
“They have told us, through their figures, that they’re overcharging us … by at least $50 million per year,” said Zay.
In 2022, Chicago approved a deal to supply Joliet with drinking water starting in 2030. The new deal will run for 100 years and changes how the rate is calculated.
WBBM has reached out to the city of Chicago and the village of Northbrook for comment.
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