INVESTOR-OWNED WATER UTILITY DROUGHT REPORT
ILLINOIS COMMERCE COMMISSION
WATER DEPARTMENT
AUGUST 12, 2005
·
The Illinois Commerce Commission only regulates
44 investor-owned water utilities serving approximately 350,000 water
customers. These utilities collectively operate about one hundred systems
throughout the State of Illinois.
The Commission does not regulate municipal water systems or water systems owned
by homeowners associations. The EPA regulates about 1,800 (as of 7/27/05) public
water suppliers throughout the State.
·
Only three investor-owned water utilities
collectively serve over 10,000 customers in the State of Illinois: Illinois-American Water Company,
Aqua Illinois, and Utilities, Inc. These utilities collectively serve 98% of
the investor-owned water utilities’ customers in the State. The majority of Commission regulated water
utilities are small well systems. These three investor-owned water utilities
were contacted to assess the effects of the drought on their water systems.
Illinois-American Water Company
Illinois-American Water Company is the largest
investor-owned water utility in the State of Illinois
serving 267,000 customers throughout the state with water facilities in the
Chicago Metro Area, Champaign, Pontiac,
Sterling, Streator, Lincoln,
Pekin, Peoria, Alton, Cairo, and the
Interurban District in East St. Louis and Granite City.
Illinois-American
reported that the Mississippi River, which is the source water for their East St. Louis plant, is
running low and predictions are that it is going even lower. The East St. Louis
plant serves East St. Louis, Belleville,
Swansea, Shiloh, O'Fallon, Caseyville, Waterloo, and Milstadt. As a result, they are taking steps to install
temporary pumping equipment to ensure a continuous supply is available to this water
plant. The pumping equipment would essentially be a temporary extension of
their water intake into the river.
The incidents from the previous reporting periods are still
in place. They are as follows: Customers
in the Alpine Heights, Fernway, and Liberty West service areas of Illinois-American’s
Chicago Metro Division have had water restrictions implemented. These service areas receive Lake
Michigan water, which is purchased from other communities. The
outside communities have implemented the restrictions on Illinois-American. Each
service area has a lake water allocation which limits the amount of water drawn
during high demand periods. Also,
factors such as storage and pumping limitations during periods of high demand
affect the restrictions. Oak Lawn
provides lake water to the Alpine Heights and Fernway service areas, and the
Dupage Water Commission, through the City of Winfield, provides lake water to the Liberty
West service area.
|
Illinois-American Service Area
|
Number of Customers
|
Date Restrictions began
|
|
Alpine Heights
|
235
|
July 11, 2005
|
|
Fernway
|
1988
|
June 26, 2005
|
|
Liberty West
|
1187
|
July 7, 2005
|
Alpine Heights has a ban on total outside water use, except
for flower and shrub watering during certain times of the day. Fernway has a total outside watering ban, and
Liberty West has odd/even day/address watering.
The restrictions are in effect until further notice and Illinois
American Water Company anticipates that the restrictions will be in place until
we get some measurable precipitation.
Aqua Illinois
The second largest investor-owned water utility, Aqua
Illinois, serves 55,000 customers in their Candlewick, Hawthorn Woods, Ivanhoe,
Kankakee, Oak Run, University Park, Vermilion, Willowbrook, and
Woodhaven Divisions in the northern half of the State.
There are no new drought related incidents for Aqua Illinois
this reporting period; however Aqua’s Hawthorn Woods system continues to have
water restrictions put on it by the Village
of Hawthorn Woods. The Village
of Hawthorn Woods issued an alternate
day water sprinkling restriction which affected customers of Aqua Illinois, who
are located in the Village
of Hawthorn Woods. The
Village issued the precautionary restriction because of approximately 6,000
private wells located in the Village. Aqua Illinois did not issue a separate water
restriction since their water supply was adequate and peak demand had not been
reached.
Utilities, Inc.
Utilities, Inc has 22 small water utilities scattered in the
Northern half of the State with a combined 15,000 customers statewide. These
water utilities all operate small well systems with one being purchased water.
There are no drought related incidents this reporting period.
Conclusion
The only new drought related incident for investor-owned water
utilities is the installation of temporary pumping equipment by
Illinois-American Water Company at their East St. Louis
facility brought on by the receding Mississippi River. Previous reported situations resulting from
the drought continue. The water restrictions experienced by Commission
regulated utilities is the result of outside factors such as other community
restrictions. Both the investor-owned
water utilities and the Commission are closely monitoring the situation and the
effects the drought may have on utility customers. While the water supply has
been adequate for investor owned water utilities and there are limited water
restrictions at this time, the outlook for investor-owned water utilities appears
to be heavily dependent on the temperature, precipitation level, and resulting
water usage.
