Kenilworth officials are checking their options before deciding whether to buy drinking water from Wilmette or Winnetka.
Before choosing, Kenilworth trustees plan to review a consultant’s analysis of whether Winnetka’s system can handle the increased demand.
Winnetka and Kenilworth have agreed to jointly fund the interconnection feasibility study, for which Winnetka Village Council members awarded a $37,675 contract to Wisconsin-based Strand Associates Inc. at their Aug. 4 meeting. Kenilworth will pay up to $18,838 of the study costs.
The study, which will also look at any potential improvements the Winnetka system would need to handle Kenilworth’s needs, is expected to take about eight weeks, according to a July 29 report to the Winnetka council by Brian Keys, the village’s director of water and electric services.
“Ultimately, the village of Kenilworth is looking for a multiple decade agreement, and it’s very important that we make sure we obtain the best long-term agreement for our residents,” Kenilworth Village Manager Patrick Brennan said Wednesday. “We continue to look at our options with both communities.”
The Winnetka-Kenilworth feasibility study is the latest study Kenilworth has undertaken, on its own or with its neighbors, as the village looks into changing where it gets its water.
In 2014 it split the costs of a design study of a potential remote pumping station that could route water from Wilmette’s Lake Avenue water plant to Kenilworth. Kenilworth also did its own cost analysis on decommissioning its aging water plant at 1 Kenilworth Ave.
In September 2014, Kenilworth trustees reached an unofficial consensus to decommission their plant and directed Brennan to start negotiations with Wilmette.
At that time, Wilmette Village Manager Tim Frenzer told Wilmette village trustees that an agreement with Kenilworth could bring Wilmette $150,000-$200,000 annually in new water revenue. Both Frenzer and Brennan said then that it was possible that an agreement could be completed before the end of the year.
However, negotiations stretched into 2015, and Brennan and Kenilworth Village President William Russell told Kenilworth trustees during their March 16 meeting that the village was also talking with Winnetka about a possible agreement, according to the minutes of that meeting.
Kenilworth actually first approached Winnetka officials about water back in 2012, Brennan said Wednesday. Kenilworth “got back in touch with them within the past four months as the result of a Village Board directive,” he said.
Brennan said he hopes to have enough information in October or November to allow Kenilworth trustees “to know our options and to have rough costs. Ideally the Village Board would make a decision this year.”
Frenzer said Thursday that he understands Kenilworth officials’ desire to check other potential water providers: “It’s a big step, so understandably they’re fully examining all their options.”
He added that Wilmette’s budget wouldn’t be affected much without Kenilworth water sales. He compared the difference to the divergence in revenue between a year in which water sales are higher and one in which they fall.
“We weren’t assuming any substantial amount,” Frenzer said.
[email protected] More Top Picks Rasasi Hawas For Him
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy
Water reflections
What: Winnetka water system study
Goal: Determine if Winnetka can provide Kenilworth’s water
Who’s interested: Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette