{"id":25205,"date":"2020-04-28T10:12:39","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T15:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/?page_id=25205"},"modified":"2025-07-16T06:29:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T11:29:37","slug":"water-privatization-in-illinois","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/water-privatization-in-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracking Illinois’ Water Privatization"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u00a0Big Profits, Big Bills:\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u00a0Tracking Illinois’ Water Privatization\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Over the past several years, private water utilities Illinois American Water and Aqua Illinois have been busy buying up depreciated water and wastewater systems across the state. These for-profit companies have purchased 61 systems since 2013, when state legislators passed a law that allows these water utilities to pass acquisition costs\u2014$411.5 million and counting<\/strong>\u2014onto their customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount we pay for water and sewer services is unreasonable,\u201d one person complained to the Illinois Commerce Commission. \u201cI feel we are being held hostage by Illinois American Water Company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ratepayers may be unsatisfied with the new private owners of their systems, but as of now, the law leaves them without a voice in determining if or when their water system is privatized. With this site, we hope to give you information about water privatization in Illinois and what you can do about it.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_tta_tabs color=”sky” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section title=”Which Systems Are They Acquiring?” tab_id=”1588694048509-3830d739-5c22″][vc_column_text]Explore this graphic to\u00a0navigate through the approved and pending Illinois American and Aqua Illinois system acquisitions across Illinois since 2013\u2014when Illinois lawmakers passed the\u00a0Illinois Water Systems Viability Act. Hover over the pins to learn more.<\/p>\n

Sales approved:<\/strong> 61<\/div>\n
Purchase Costs Paid by Consumers:<\/strong> $411.5 million<\/div>\n

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Sell, and the community gets an influx of extra revenue from the sale, but ratepayers often end up with higher bills.\u00a0According to data released in a 2017 Chicago Tribune expose<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Illinois American and Aqua Illinois were slapping Chicagoland customers with rates 20 to 70 percent higher<\/em> than the rates of publicly-managed water systems using the same Lake Michigan water. Although keeping a system municipally-owned does not mean there will never be a rate increase, public water is cheaper in the long run, especially when private profit is involved.<\/p>\n

But if local governments want to keep the system public, the municipality (read, ratepayers) has to fork out money to pay for expensive system upgrades and maintenance on a depreciating water system. According to a 2017 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers, most of the water pipes across the US were installed in the early- to mid-20th century, and their time is almost up; the pipes were projected to last about 75 to 100 years.<\/p>\n

Cue Illinois American and Aqua Illinois: Private takeover of water systems has become a popular option for municipalities staring down a list of necessary and expensive system upgrades. These companies take on all responsibility for keeping the systems in line with federal and state mandates after the sale.\u00a0For example,\u00a0Alton, a Metro East city of about 30,000, sold its wastewater system to Illinois American after the Environmental Protection Agency mandated an expensive undertaking\u2014sewer and storm drain separation\u2014to be completed in the next 6 years.<\/p>\n

But don’t be fooled. These companies may take responsibility for your system’s upkeep (they love touting their strict “regulatory compliance”), but they don’t always act responsibly.<\/p>\n

In 2019, University Park \u2014\u200awhose water system is run by Aqua\u200a\u2014\u200adetected unacceptable levels of brain-damaging lead in their drinking supply. Three years later, some traumatized residents still didn’t trust Aqua and were continuing to choose bottled water, according to a TV report. <\/a><\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”How Much Are Aqua and Illinois American Spending?” tab_id=”1588694048784-1f2ab208-af47″][vc_column_text]Illinois American has spent $290.8 million on new system acquisitions since 2013, and Aqua Illinois has spent $120.7 million, according to data compiled from the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). So where did these for-profit water utilities spend a combined $411.5 million? Below is a breakdown of all Illinois American and Aqua acquisitions since 2013, the largest being Granite City’s wastewater system for over $86 million. NOTE: These numbers include the legal costs the company spent on the acquisitions.<\/p>\n

Hover over a slice of either pie chart to see how much either utility paid for the municipal system.<\/p>\n