The Journal Star had a story today about the problems Kingston Mines is having coming up with $400,000 to treat their water so it meets IEPA standards. Suppose Peoria were to buy the water works from Illinois American Water. In addition to the huge debt load from buying the water works, would Peoria be able to afford IEPA compliance in the long-term?
Kingston Mines has radium contamination. What if Peoria develops copper or lead contamination, and the only way to fix it is by replacing the infrastructure? Can Peoria afford to fix that on top of the cost of purchasing the water company? Peoria is an old city with a lot of old pipes. I hope councilman Manning has figured in those kinds of contingencies when this issue comes up the next time.
I don’t think the public has a problem paying, on their water bill, for costs associated with delivering safe drinkable water. Run the numbers as many times as you like, it won’t matter much. The costs can be passed to the customer. Unless there is mismanagement, the public will be ok with paying them.
What the public WILL NOT accept is paying for civic centers, sprawling new housing developments, zoos, museums, etc on their water bill. Too few people trust our city government to not try and do this.