A rising tide of resentment

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Updated: March 23, 2012 8:17AM

Officials from throughout the Southland are getting restless over the rising cost of Lake Michigan water, so much so that efforts to find a source other than Chicago are gaining momentum.

The idea may be more feasible for some towns (those closer to Indiana) than others, but whether any can find a more cost-effective way of getting lake water is questionable.

The impetus for this nascent movement is Chicago jacking up its water rates by 25 percent on Jan. 1 and by 15 percent on New Year’s Day the next three years to pay for major improvements to its distribution system, which supplies water to the city and 125 suburbs.

What upsets suburban officials is not only the large water-rate increase but the belief that Chicago is holding them hostage — charging the suburbs more than it should to help relieve its huge budget deficit.

“I feel we’re being held up by the city of Chicago,” Homewood Trustee Tom Kataras said recently, undoubtedly speaking for many of his Southland counterparts. “The city of Chicago should not balance its budget on suburban communities’ backs.”

Last week, Midlothian trustees heard a pitch for the village to join something called a Joint Action Water Agency, which would build a water system by 2016 to bring lake water from Northwest Indiana instead of Chicago. Alsip, Blue Island, Markham, Harvey and Robbins have signed up so far, and others are being recruited.

The substantial cost of creating such a system (unknown now because the system’s size is to be determined) — including a filtration plant, intake crib on the lake and pipelines — would be financed by bonds that would be paid off via a water bill surcharge.

Would this be a sensible alternative to Chicago? Certainly not in the short term but possibly over time. For now, we can’t be sure, but it’s worth exploring.

We don’t think most of Chicago’s municipal clients will free themselves from its water system. But not wanting to be Rahm-atized by higher water bills, the suburbs have to try.