A 127-acre stretch of former golf course land in Northbrook is now ground zero for a $6 billion bid by DuPage County and a coalition of northwest suburbs to break free of Chicago's water grid entirely. DuPage County and Cook County leaders announced details this week of a plan to shift control of Lake Michigan water supply from Chicago to a new suburban-run system, one that would draw water straight from the lake, treat it locally, and pipe it to more than 30 communities without Chicago as the middleman.
The plan pairs the DuPage Water Commission with the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency to build a new intake, purification station and network of tunnels spanning two counties, according to the Chicago Tribune. Under the proposal, raw Lake Michigan water would be drawn from an intake east of Glencoe, flow through an underground tunnel to a new purification facility in Northbrook, and then travel south through another tunnel skirting the west side of O'Hare International Airport before reaching finished-water storage at the DuPage Water Commission's headquarters in Elmhurst. The Northbrook treatment site sits on the former Green Acres Country Club property, which the commission purchased in 2024.
That purchase was not a quiet one. The commission paid $80 million for the 127-acre parcel at 916 Dundee Road, according to The Real Deal, buying it from an investment venture that had acquired the same land for just $9.8 million in 2018. Northbrook officials at the time said they received no advance notice of the sale and objected to losing local zoning influence over a site once eyed for residential and open-space redevelopment, per Patch. Illinois municipal governments have no authority to block private land sales between non-governmental entities, which left the village with little recourse.
Why Suburbs Say They're Done Waiting on Chicago
DuPage Water Commission officials have pointed to reliability problems at Chicago's Lexington Pumping Station as a driving force behind the split. An August 2023 engineering evaluation found $16.5 million in needed repairs at the West Side station, which pumps all the treated Lake Michigan water sent to DuPage County, and commission leaders warned that a station failure would leave suburban communities with only about two days of stored water, according to the Daily Herald. Northwest Municipal Joint Action Water Agency board chair Jim Zay cited two major water-delivery disruptions tied to power problems in describing the case for change, per the Tribune, and he called the proposed system modern, state-of-the-art, source-to-tap, reliable, sustainable and resilient.
Rate history has fueled the frustration too. Chicago water rates climbed 25% in 2012, 15% in 2013 and another 15% in 2014, according to the Tribune's reporting, and backers of the new system argue that local ownership would put rate-setting back under suburban control. The DuPage Water Commission expects to pay Chicago $130 million this year alone for water that has flowed from the Jardine Water Purification Plant since 1983, per the Chicago Department of Water Management's own history with the agency.
A Contract Countdown to 2041
The DuPage Water Commission's current contract with Chicago runs through March 2041, the result of a 17-year extension signed in early 2024 that replaced the commission's original 40-year agreement from 1984, according to Chronicle Media. That shorter term effectively set the clock for the new independent system, which the Tribune describes as a 15-year project expected to reach completion by 2041 and, once running, could eventually extend service to 20 additional communities beyond the initial network.
Building it will not be simple. New facility construction of this scale requires state legislation, a lengthy permitting process and public capital subsidies, the Tribune reports, and DuPage Water Commission officials have already secured a $1 million community project funding award toward the effort, with help from U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi. Chicago officials say they are continuing conversations with the DuPage Water Commission and other stakeholders about maintaining reliable drinking water service, even as the suburban coalition moves forward with its own plans. Backers of the new system say its rates are expected to be competitive with current pricing once adjusted for inflation.
What the Suburban Network Would Look Like
Once built, the separate system would let the DuPage Water Commission and the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency back each other up during emergencies, according to the Tribune, a feature current arrangements do not offer. The proposed water system is slated to distribute water to Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates and seven other northwest Cook County suburbs, alongside DuPage communities. A new purification system built for the network would also bring updated treatment technology designed to address emerging contaminants as they are identified and regulated, per the Tribune's reporting.
The stakes for Chicago's water system extend well beyond DuPage's contract. The commission is the single largest wholesale customer of the Chicago Department of Water Management, contributing roughly 15% of the city system's total annual operating revenue, according to Fitch Ratings. Fitch downgraded its outlook on Chicago's water revenue bonds from stable to negative in April, citing customer concentration risk and the potential for long-term exits by major wholesale buyers such as DuPage. If the suburban system reaches completion as planned, that 15% revenue hole could accelerate further credit downgrades and push higher rates onto Chicago's remaining municipal customers.
Not Every Suburb Is Heading for the Exit
The regional picture is more complicated than a single suburb-versus-city storyline. All Illinois withdrawals from Lake Michigan are capped under a 1967 U.S. Supreme Court consent decree at a 40-year running average of 3,200 cubic feet per second, or roughly 2.07 billion gallons per day, across all pumpage, storm runoff and river diversions, a limit that shapes every one of these regional supply decisions. Even as DuPage and the northwest suburbs plan their exit, six southwestern suburbs — Joliet, Romeoville, Crest Hill, Channahon, Minooka and Shorewood — have formed the Grand Prairie Water Commission and committed nearly $1.45 billion to build a 35-mile pipeline connecting into Chicago's system by 2030, replacing aquifers that are depleting rapidly. That commission priced its first $51.2 million in senior lien water revenue bonds last October to begin financing the roughly $1.2 billion transmission project, with Joliet shouldering the largest share of costs at 49.38%. Joliet has already felt the transition's growing pains as it moves toward Lake Michigan water.
The DuPage Water Commission, meanwhile, is already extending its own reach even before its independent intake system is built. In June the commission broke ground on WaterLink, a roughly $400 million, 30-mile pipeline extension that will deliver Lake Michigan water to Montgomery, Oswego and Yorkville by 2028 as local sandstone aquifers run dry faster than they can recharge. Yorkville aldermen weighed an $8 million state loan tied to that connection earlier this year, and the commission has also been offloading surplus land elsewhere, including a Naperville parcel now planned for new housing. Whether the $6 billion Northbrook-anchored system reaches the finish line by 2041 will depend on the state approvals, permitting and financing hurdles still ahead — questions that, for now, remain open even as the suburban coalition presses forward.
-4.webp?w=160&h=400&fit=crop&crop=edges)
