By Will Payne
Whether it is for cooking, cleaning or drinking, access to clean and affordable water is absolutely necessary for any well-functioning town or village throughout the United States.
Residents from Oakwood and 23 other territories from around the state rely on their water and sewage from Utility Services of Illinois. However, this company is not following through on its promise of, “providing safe, reliable and cost-effective service to our customers.”
For the Village of Oakwood, the road to their water and sewage systems being bought out by Utility Services all started in 1996. During this time, Oakwood’s water and sewage system was run locally, and there were $17,000 in unpaid water bills. In the following years, the rates were not increased and there was no money available for future renovations to the current system.
Two years later, former Illinois representative Bill Black petitioned for and was awarded $165,000 by the state to the Village of Oakwood to improve the pumping stations and to purchase a generator for the water plant.
For the next several years, the money from the state did not fully fix any water-related problems in the area. Instead, numerous water main breaks occurred during the years 2005-2013. Business owners, residents, and schools would have to adhere to constant boil orders and wait for the EPA to test their water.
In 2010, concrete action was taken from the government in Oakwood to try to fix their system. The EPA approved a construction permit to install 2,480 feet of 6in. water pipes. Later that month, a Community Development Public Hearing was held to continue the development of their water and sewage systems.
Ten Oakwood residents were present to discuss replacing the water pipes, service connections, and adding fire hydrants throughout the town. The village was awarded a $350,000 grant and improvements to the East and West Collett were completed.
Despite these improvements throughout the village, they were just papers over the cracks of the issues that lay present in Oakwood. After being faced with multiple notices from the EPA about their unsafe water, in 2013, the Village of Oakwood hired a professional engineering firm to do a comprehensive study on their system.
After the completion of this study, the firm gave the Village of Oakwood two expensive options for their town’s water and sewage system. Either Oakwood would upgrade their own system for an estimated cost of $2.9 million, or connect their pipes with the Vermilion County fairgrounds and purchase bulk water from Aqua Illinois for an estimated cost of $2.8 million.
This ultimatum from the engineering firm set off a bidding war between water companies around the state for comprehensive access to Oakwood’s system as Aqua Illinois, Illinois American Water and Utility Services of Illinois all sent in their best offers.
In April of 2014, the Village of Oakwood eventually agreed to sell their water and sewer operations for $2 million to Utility Services of Illinois, making all residents of the village their customers.
Now in July of 2021, eight years after Utility Services of Illinois took over their system, the results have been disappointing to the general public.
There are benefits to having a private water and sewage company supply for your village or town. When running smoothly, it is one less thing for a local government to worry about, especially as the Oakwood government spent the better part of the last 20 years replacing water pipes and generators.
Many people in the community of Oakwood do not have access to a high-tech water filtration system, which means they rely on the tap water that comes from Utility Services. According to files from the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Village of Oakwood, there have been upwards of fifty complaints about their water quality and consistent price increases.
Documents provided by the Illinois Commerce Commission through a FOIA request show:
“Our water is not drinkable and our bills have tripled. Another 30% rate increase is expected. I’m on a fixed income and this is unacceptable.”
“Customer just received a bill for $240.80, called and could not reach anyone to inquire about the high bill. Trying to find out if this is a two-month bill, but if it is a one-month bill, it is very high. They don’t think they have a leak, but not sure how they can tell. Also, they had requested a paper bill be sent and that has not happened. Please start sending a paper bill and address the high bill complaint.”
Initially one of the reasons why Oakwood chose this company was because they promised to keep rates the same for the first two years. But the rates have skyrocketed in recent years, and they are continuing to rise. An average monthly water bill from Utility Services for a family can be upwards of hundreds of dollars when neighboring communities with different water suppliers have a bill around the $100 mark.
With the continued complaints from members of the public, eventually, a resident of Oakwood made an effort to help fix the problem from the inside. Oakwood’s Cathi Cannon Fritz brought attention to this issue as a resident, and now she sits on the trustee board.
“There has been such a high rate of water and sewage prices in Oakwood and there really is no protection for the consumer,” said Fritz. “Utility Services of Illinois goes to the Illinois Commerce Commission who is supposed to be the governing body to protect consumers.”
“The ICC says these companies are allowed to profit off of their investment,” said Fritz. “However, if that means our water bill is $400, it’s $400.”
Utility Services of Illinois currently owns the water and sewage system of 24 different territories from around the state, and four of these towns and villages have hired an attorney to help them get the clean water they are paying for.
If there are no changes to the current system of exponentially increasing bills and unsanitary water in these communities, the complaints will undoubtedly continue to pile up.
