Lightfoot: Joliet Will Get Great-Tasting Water From Chicago

JOLIET, IL — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot attended a Joliet City Council meeting Thursday night in hopes of hammering out an agreement to supply Joliet with its drinking water for several decades into the future.

During the special meeting, the Joliet City Council heard from Lightfoot as well as the mayor of Hammond, Indiana, in separate presentations. Hammond and Chicago are in competition with one another to become Joliet's future drinking water supplier.

"By working with Joliet we dramatically improve the terms to where they should be, which is terms that not only benefits both of us, but the entire region as well," Lightfoot said Thursday evening during her presentation. "

Lightfoot also went on to say that establishing more regional partnerships with local governments such as Joliet is a high priority for her administration.

Both cities are on Joliet's short list for providing Joliet with drinking water, and after several years of discussion, Joliet appears in agreement that it wants to obtain its future water supply from Lake Michigan.

"Let me be clear," Lightfoot told Joliet Council members, "We want your business. I hope you will give us due consideration."

Lightfoot told the Joliet Council that Chicago offers some of the finest drinking water available and it is very safe. She said that Chicago has won numerous awards for the quality of its water supply and there are more than 2,000 staff members.

Lightfoot emphasized that Chicago drinking water "tastes good and is safe. The Chicago water system is second to none."

Lightfoot told Joliet Council members that working out an agreement with Joliet is a major priority of her and her administration and that's why she made it a point to travel to Joliet to make Chicago's presentation in person Thursday evening.

Lightfoot assured Joliet officials that "Chicago's water system will never be sold."

During her presentation, Lightfoot told Joliet officials that, "First, selling an asset as valuable and essential to the health and well-being of every resident in our city would be a disastrous, bad decision. It would never happen as long as I am mayor.

"Second reason," Lightfoot said, "the residents of Chicago would never let such a foolish proposition happen, and here's why. You'll recall, that cities all over the country, led by Chicago, would sell off municipal assets to deal with budget shortfalls. The most disastrous of these deals was also a Chicago deal, the sale of our parking meters, which happened some years ago.

"It was a terrible deal."

Mayor Lightfoot reminded everyone that before becoming mayor of Chicago, she worked for many years as a lawyer. As a result, any agreement between Chicago and Joliet involving the Lake Michigan water supply will be transparent and include unambiguous language.

"I believe in the term, 'Put it in writing," she said."

As of 7 p.m., Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott began addressing the Joliet council, acknowledging that following the Chicago mayor provided for tough shoes to follow.

Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk said that the Joliet Council plans to vote in late January whether to go with Chicago or Hammond for its long-term water supply. The Chicago proposal would last 50 years while the Hammond deal would go for 99 years.

"The city's in a really good position I believe," O'Dekirk remarked. "We could be a regional water provider over time."

In April, a city of Joliet news release stated that Joliet gets its water from a deep well aquifer that will no longer be able to meet the City’s needs by 2030. The Joliet City Council selected Lake Michigan as the preferred source at their meeting in January 2020.

Joliet said its next phase would determine if Lake Michigan water should be tapped from the City of Chicago or from a new intake in Indiana. The consultant will evaluate both options and present their findings to the Council. It is anticipated this will be complete by the end of 2020.

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