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Drinking water crises that have crippled Dixmoor, University Park and other communities are likely to occur in more south suburban towns, officials said this week.
Many predominantly Black communities lack sufficient funds to meet payrolls and other routine expenses. They have no money to make urgently needed repairs to water and sewer systems.
The problem is widespread and may affect dozens of communities where hundreds of thousands of people live.
“We’re going through an awful lot in Dixmoor with this water,” Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts said. “Our pipes are 100 years old. The pipes are decaying. In the past month we’ve probably had about 25 water main breaks.”
News outlets have chronicled the crisis in Dixmoor, where water main breaks have shuttered public schools and deprived people of access to water in their homes for days at a time. But similar crises are lurking just below the surface in many other communities.
“The village of Robbins also is looking for some federal assistance for water relief,” Mayor Darren E. Bryant told a group of state lawmakers and mayors who gathered Tuesday in Hazel Crest for an Illinois Legislative Black Caucus listening tour.
Years of declining revenues caused by a diminished tax base have caused public works departments to defer maintenance and fall behind on paying bills. Robbins, for example, owes $16 million to the city of Chicago, its water supplier, Bryant said.
“I need some legislation to curb the city of Chicago from gradually increasing their water rates by 5%,” Bryant said. “We’re already behind $16 million and each year we’re getting a 5% increase on top of that. We’ll never catch up. Never.”
Chicago sued Robbins and Dolton in 2018 over unpaid water debt. In Harvey, retired firefighters sued the city and won a court order that essentially garnished tax revenues to meet unpaid pension fund obligations.
“The previous administration took a pension holiday,” said Timothy Williams, Harvey city administrator.
The system of using property taxes on homes and businesses to fund schools, police and other services has failed Harvey and other communities. Many property owners don’t pay their taxes. Harvey’s tax collection rate is only 52%, Williams said.
The city has identified more than $300 million in needed infrastructure improvements, he said.
“The city of Harvey has been challenged by a lack of investment,” Williams said. “It’s going to take $10 million annually that we don’t have. It’s going to take $3 million just for them to not further degrade.”
When infrastructure in older communities fails, repairs can put new pressure on other parts that are near failure. Merely keeping water flowing can be like a game of Whac-A-Mole.
Robbins lacks valves to shut off water to parts of its system when a break occurs, Bryant said. So when a main breaks, the village has to shut off water to the entire town.
A main goal of Tuesday’s listening tour session was for mayors to communicate needs to state lawmakers. Some federal funding for infrastructure improvements is available through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
“This is a time in government that has never been before,” Hazel Crest Mayor Vernard Alsberry said. “There are millions of dollars coming through. We have to make sure those dollars make it to our communities.”
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Communities may apply for grants but typically must provide some matching funding of their own.
“When it comes to matching dollars, you know where you give us $1 million and it costs us $500,000, we can’t do it,” Alsberry said. “The Southland never really came out of its economic struggles. Every time we get two steps up we have another crisis. We’re never able to pull up.”
Several communities facing dire infrastructure needs have lost population in the past decade. Harvey has more than 6,000 vacant or abandoned properties, Williams said.
“The water crisis out here is real,” Alsberry said. “You can’t live without water. Putting a tax on water is insane. People cannot survive without it.”
The infusion of federal dollars for local infrastructure is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, officials said. Markham Mayor Roger Agpawa said he sought help from legislators to navigate the process of applying for grants.
“Many of us have been told about millions of dollars of capital money that is out there for us. Those are the things we’re looking to have,” Agpawa the told legislators. “You were honest about it. There were some things you didn’t know in terms of the mechanism to make these dollars move.”
Will County has distributed about $134 million in rescue plan funds to various taxing bodies to address infrastructure needs.
State Rep. Sonya Harper of Chicago, chair of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, attended Tuesday’s listening session. Lawmakers joining her included state Reps. Will Davis of Homewood, Debbie Meyers-Martin of Olympia Fields and Marcus Evans of Chicago.
Mayors or other representatives of Burnham, Calumet Park, Country Club Hills, Lynwood, Matteson, Phoenix, Richton Park and University Park attended.
Hazel Crest was the third stop on the delegation’s statewide tour after previous stops in far southern Cairo and in impoverished Pembroke Township in Kankakee County.
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.