University Park Drinking Water

In 2017, Aqua Illinois, Inc. (Aqua) switched the source of drinking water for its Village of University Park Public Water System (Public Water System) from groundwater wells to the Kankakee River. Because of the switch, Aqua was required by State drinking water regulations to conduct lead compliance sampling every six months. In June 2019, sample results showed elevated levels of lead in the Public Water System’s drinking water. In August 2019, the State of Illinois and Will County initiated a lawsuit against Aqua to address the elevated levels of lead in the drinking water. In November 2019, the parties entered into an Agreed Interim Order which required Aqua to undertake numerous actions above and beyond applicable State drinking water regulations, including providing free bottled water and home faucet filter devices to impacted residential customers. Aqua was also required to conduct corrosion control studies to determine the necessary treatment to prevent lead from leaching into the drinking water.

Since July 2021, Aqua has consistently complied with the regulatory lead action level. In August 2022, Illinois EPA approved Aqua's recommendation to designate zinc orthophosphate as the optimal corrosion control treatment.

Because Aqua’s compliance sampling data (see graph) has met the regulatory lead action level and has demonstrated the ongoing effectiveness of the zinc orthophosphate corrosion control treatment, the State and Will County negotiated a Consent Order with Aqua which was entered on July 10, 2024. The entry of the Consent Order and an accompanying order by the Court resolved the ongoing enforcement action. Under the Consent Order, Aqua is required to take additional steps to ensure that its customers are being provided with drinking water that meets the State drinking water regulations.

State drinking water regulations require ongoing compliance sampling of lead concentrations in the Public Water System’s drinking water. These State drinking water regulations require Aqua to meet a regulatory lead action level of 15 parts per billion (ppb) by collecting one round of samples from a certain number of homes every six months and reporting those results to the Illinois EPA at the end of each six-month compliance period. The State’s Agreed Interim Order required Aqua to go beyond the regulatory requirements and collect additional lead compliance samples on a monthly basis, although compliance with the lead action level was still evaluated at the end of each six-month compliance sampling period.

Starting in 2019, when elevated levels of lead were first detected in the Public Water System’s drinking water, Aqua exceeded the lead action level for the six-month compliance sampling periods of January 1 – June 30, 2019; July 1 – December 31, 2019; and January 1 – June 30, 2020. Following Aqua’s switch to a phosphoric acid corrosion control treatment in April 2020, Aqua met the lead action level for the six-month compliance sampling period of July 1 – December 31, 2020. However, in March 2021, Aqua’s monthly compliance sampling results showed an upward trend in lead levels, and Aqua had a lead action level exceedance for the six-month compliance sampling period of January 1 – June 30, 2021.

Since July 2021, Aqua has consistently complied with the regulatory lead action level. In August 2022, Illinois EPA approved Aqua's recommendation to designate zinc orthophosphate as the optimal corrosion control treatment. In June 2023, based on Aqua’s ability to consistently meet the lead action level, the Illinois EPA authorized Aqua to reduce the frequency of its compliance monitoring for lead to an annual basis.

Annual compliance monitoring will be conducted from June to September 2024. Results must be submitted to Illinois EPA by October 10, 2024, to determine compliance with the lead action level.

Upon discovery of the elevated lead levels within the drinking water of the Public Water System, the Illinois EPA immediately referred Aqua to the Attorney General’s Office for enforcement. The State of Illinois, joined by Will County, filed a Complaint against Aqua in Will County Circuit Court in August 2019. In November 2019, the parties entered into an Agreed Interim Order, pursuant to which Aqua was required to undertake numerous actions, some of which were above and beyond applicable State drinking water regulations. Among other items, Aqua was required to provide bottled water and filter devices free of charge to customers within the Lead Advisory area until the Illinois EPA or a court determined otherwise; perform comprehensive corrosion control treatment studies in order to submit an Optimal Corrosion Control Treatment recommendation for Illinois EPA’s review and approval; collect lead compliance samples at an enhanced monthly frequency until the Illinois EPA or a court determined otherwise; and collect lead samples upon the request of any customer of the Public Water System, as often as once per month.

The Agreed Interim Order has been replaced by the Consent Order, described below.

The Consent Order is the negotiated agreement between the State of Illinois, Will County, and Aqua, which resolves the lawsuit filed in 2019. The Consent Order contains the following significant terms and requirements, which are above and beyond applicable State drinking water regulations. The Consent Order establishes the Customer Resources Area, which was previously known as the Lead Advisory Area under the Agreed Interim Order; provides for customer-requested sampling for additional 180 days; creates and funds the Technical Assistance Program; requires Aqua to pay a penalty if funds remain; and allows for discontinuation of bottled water and faucet filters to residents in most circumstances.

Customer-Requested Sampling

Upon entry of the Consent Order and continuing until January 6, 2025, any customer of Aqua’s Public Water System (not just customers within the Customer Resources Area) may request that Aqua collect a sample from a customer’s kitchen tap and analyze that sample for lead. Such customer-requested samples shall be collected and analyzed by Aqua free of charge and may be requested as often as once per month.

Technical Assistance Program (TAP)

The TAP is available to residential customers within the Customer Resources Area that sign up to participate in the program before March 7, 2025. Aqua will contact all households located in the Customer Resources Area to provide information on the TAP. The TAP will continue for one year after entry of the Consent Order. The consent order requires Aqua to fund the TAP up to $900,000. Aqua is required to complete all activities under the TAP for each residential customer that is still in-progress as of the one-year termination date, to the extent funding remains available.

Under the TAP, residential customers in the Customer Resources Area who sign up to participate in the program before March 7, 2025 are eligible to receive the following services, free of charge:

•  Collection of an initial tap water sample from the residential customer’s kitchen cold water faucet;
• If the result of the initial tap water sample is above 15 ppb for lead, the residential customer will be eligible for free filter devices, an in-home inspection of the visible plumbing for the residential customer’s kitchen faucet, and completion of initial corrective actions;
• If an in-residence inspection is performed, Aqua will schedule the collection of a post-inspection sample of the kitchen cold water tap with the residential customer to be analyzed for lead. The post-inspection sample will be collected at least 14 days after Aqua’s completion of the in-residence inspection.
•  If the post-inspection tap water sample result is also above 15 ppb for lead, the residential customer will continue to be eligible for free filter devices. Aqua will connect the residential customer with an Illinois-licensed third-party plumber who will further inspect and remediate visible lead solder and/or lead-containing fixtures corresponding to the residential customer’s kitchen faucet. This work will be paid directly by Aqua up to a cost of $3,500.00.
•   No earlier than 75 days from the completion of the kitchen faucet plumbing remediation work, the residential customer may contact Aqua to collect another tap sample from their kitchen faucet. If that sample is above 15 ppb for lead, the residential customer will continue to be eligible for free filter devices from Aqua until the respective sampling results do not exceed 15 ppb for two consecutive sampling events, with at least 30 days between each sampling event.

Financial Contributions

If funds remain after the TAP kitchen faucet plumbing remediation work has been completed, Aqua will make financial contributions for lead in drinking water sampling, remediation and/or other related work to the Crete-Monee School District 201-U (for the benefit of Crete-Monee Middle School and Coretta Scott King Magnet School) and to PK’s Christian Learning Site.

Discontinuation of Bottled Water

No earlier than August 9, 2024, Aqua may stop the distribution of free bottled water to customers within the Customer Resources Area after written notice to those customers. However, Aqua will provide bottled water free of charge to any customer located within the Customer Resources Area with a lead sampling result of 100 ppb or higher, until the lead sampling results for that customer do not exceed 100 ppb for two consecutive sampling events with at least 30 days between each sampling event.

Discontinuation of Filter Devices

No earlier than September 8, 2024, Aqua may stop distribution of free filter devices and replacement cartridges to customers within the Customer Resources Area upon written notice to those customers. However, Aqua will provide free filter devices and replacement cartridges free of charge to any customer located within the Customer Resources Area with a lead sampling result of 15 ppb or higher, until the lead sampling results for that customer do not exceed 15 ppb for two consecutive sampling events with at least 30 days between each sampling event.

Aqua’s Website

Upon entry of the Consent Order and continuing until the Consent Order terminates, Aqua shall maintain its dedicated website, WaterFactsIL.com.

By e-mail: EPA.SafeWater@illinois.gov

By phone: Barb Lieberoff, 217-524-3038

Aqua website for University Park: https://www.waterfactsil.com/

Illinois EPA, Technical Assistance Program

USEPA, General Information on Lead: https://www.epa.gov/lead

USEPA, Lead in Drinking Water: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water

Illinois EPA, Consent Order Factsheet

Illinois EPA, Resources on Lead: https://epa.illinois.gov/general-information/in-your-home/resources-on-lead.html

Illinois EPA, Drinking Water Watch: http://water.epa.state.il.us/dww/index.jsp

Illinois Department of Public Health, Lead in Water Testing at Schools and Child Care Facilities: https://dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/environmental-health-protection/lead-in-water/testing-schools-child-care-facilities.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/

Lead Care Illinois: Provides free lead and water testing, training, and education to child care providers in Illinois. https://leadcareillinois.org/

What is the regulatory framework of the Lead and Copper Rule?

In Illinois, the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) provides a regulatory framework that requires public water systems to take a variety of actions to minimize the risk of lead or copper entering the drinking water in those systems (35 Ill. Adm Code 611.1350, et. seq.). The LCR contains a lead action level, which is a threshold that triggers treatment techniques including corrosion control, source water treatment, lead service line replacement, and public education. The LCR lead action level is exceeded if ten percent of the compliance samples, collected by a public water system from its consumer’s drinking water, are greater than 15 ug/L or parts per billion (“ppb”). This is known as the 90th percentile lead action level. An exceedance of the 90th percentile lead action level is not a violation of the LCR, but triggers a public water system to perform required actions to determine the cause of the exceedance and to educate the public.

As USEPA explained when passing the federal LCR, which Illinois has adopted as substantively identical:

“Water systems that exceed the action levels, however, are not in violation of the treatment technique. Rather, exceedance of the action level(s) is merely a trigger for medium and small systems to implement optimal corrosion control (unless they can demonstrate to the State that they have already optimized corrosion control) and systems of all sizes to implement source water monitoring and possible treatment, public education, and possible lead service line replacement. Since the compliance status of a water system depends upon whether it performs the treatment steps established in the rule, and not upon whether it meets the action levels, the action levels are not equivalent to MCLs.” Maximum Contaminant Level Goals and National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper, 56 Fed. Reg. 26460-01, at 26488 (June 7, 1991).

Beginning on October 16, 2024, public water systems in Illinois will comply with revised lead and copper rules based on the USEPA’s Lead and Copper Rules Revisions (LCRR) and contained in 35 Ill. Adm Code 611.350, et. seq.

What happens if the 90th percentile lead action level is exceeded under the LCR?

If the 90th percentile lead action level is exceeded, the Public Water System must evaluate treatment techniques, including corrosion control, source water treatment, lead service line replacement, and public education. The Public Water System must evaluate its corrosion control treatment and determine Optimal Corrosion Control Treatment (OCCT), which means the corrosion control treatment that minimizes the lead and copper concentrations at residential customer’s taps while ensuring that the treatment does not cause the water system to violate any Illinois primary drinking water regulations.

Does University Park’s water comply with the lead drinking water standard?

The drinking water from Aqua’s Public Water System has met the LCR 90th percentile lead action level since July 1, 2021, that includes the following sampling periods:

• July 1 – December 31, 2021,
• January 1 – June 30, 2022,
• June 1 – December 31, 2022, and
• January 1 –December 31, 2023,

This means that since July 1, 2021, the 90th percentile level of compliance sample results has been below the action level of 15 ppb for the concentration of lead. Furthermore, Aqua has been using zinc orthophosphate since August 2021 as its corrosion control treatment, which was approved as OCCT by the Illinois EPA in August 2022

Annual compliance monitoring will be conducted from June to September 2024. Results must be submitted to Illinois EPA by October 10, 2024 to determine compliance with the lead action level.

Is it ok to drink and cook with the water?

Yes. University Park’s drinking water complies with LCR requirements. These are the requirements that all drinking water systems in the country must comply with for providing quality drinking water to their users. Requirements of the Lead and Copper Rule are noted above.

Why did it take so long to resolve the elevated lead levels?

Starting in June 2019, Aqua was required to conduct corrosion control studies to determine the necessary treatment to address the elevated lead levels. Between 2019 and 2021, Aqua and nationally recognized drinking water experts conducted extensive studies of the Public Water System and made multiple modifications to its corrosion control treatment to optimize the treatment. During this time period, the Illinois EPA continued to review Aqua’s corrosion control studies and, via review letters in April 2020, September 2020, and June 2021, required Aqua to conduct further investigations under current water quality conditions.

Since August 2021, Aqua has been using zinc orthophosphate as its corrosion control treatment, which was approved by the Illinois EPA as OCCT in August 2022. Although Aqua was meeting the 90th percentile lead action level for its compliance samples since July 1, 2021, the Illinois EPA continued to evaluate the effectiveness of the corrosion control treatment under varying seasonal and source water conditions. The review of OCCT under the LCR is a ten-step process.
 
What is the ten-step process under the LCR for reviewing Optimal Corrosion Control Treatment?

Review of Corrosion Control Treatment Requirements and Deadlines for Systems Serving ≤ 50,000 People (35 Ill. Adm. Code 611.1351 and 611.1352)

Bottled Water/ Filters

Will residential customers continue to get bottled water or filter devices for free from Aqua?

Since the drinking water has not exceeded the 90th percentile lead action level since July 1, 2021, the Consent Order allows Aqua to stop providing bottled water and filter devices. Aqua’s customers within the Customer Resources Area will stop receiving free bottled water as of August 9, 2024, and Aqua’s customers within the Customer Resources Area will stop receiving free filter devices as of September 8, 2024.

From July 10, 2024, and continuing until the termination of the Consent Order, Aqua will provide, at its distribution center, bottled water to any residential customer located in the Customer Resources Area who receives a compliance sampling, customer-requested sampling, or Technical Assistance Program (“TAP”) sampling result of 100 ppb or higher until such residential customer’s respective sampling results do not exceed 100 ppb for two consecutive sampling events, with at least thirty (30) days between each sampling event. Aqua shall deliver bottled water to any such residential customer that is homebound.

From July 10, 2024 and continuing until the termination of the Consent Order, Aqua will provide, at its distribution center, faucet filter devices certified by NSF/ANSI Standards 42 and 53, or pitcher filters certified by NSF/ANSI Standards 42 and 53, with the respective replacement filter cartridges for both filter devices, to any residential customer located in the Customer Resources Area who receives a compliance sampling, customer-requested sampling, or TAP sampling result of 15 ppb or higher until such residential customer’s respective sampling results do not exceed 15 ppb for two consecutive sampling events, with at least thirty (30) days between each sampling event. Aqua shall deliver filter devices to any such residential customer that is homebound.

Should residential customers continue using a filter device?

There is currently no requirement to use a filter device, as Aqua’s Public Water System has met the 90th percentile lead action level since July 1, 2021. However, if a residential customer feels more comfortable using a filter, there is no reason to discontinue filter use as long as it is properly maintained. More information concerning water filters can be found at USEPA’s website: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-12/documents/consumer_tool_for_identifying_drinking_water_filters_certified_to_reduce_lead.pdf

However, if a residential customer within the Customer Resources Area receives a compliance sampling, customer-requested sampling, or TAP sampling result of 15 ppb or higher, then a filter is both recommended and provided by Aqua until such residential customer’s respective sampling results do not exceed 15 ppb for two consecutive sampling events.

For residential customers that sign up for the TAP and have kitchen faucet remediation work, Illinois EPA recommends continuing to use a filter until post-remediation sample results are below 15ppb, since a plumbing disturbance sometimes temporarily increases lead levels.

Sample Collection

How can residential customers get their drinking water sampled by Aqua?

There are three types of drinking water sampling discussed in the Consent Order: compliance sampling, customer-requested sampling, and TAP sampling.

Compliance Sampling is taken only at select homes in Aqua’s compliance sampling pool and must comply with the regulatory requirements of 35 Ill. Adm. Code 611.1356(b). Compliance samples are utilized to determine compliance with the LCR. Currently, compliance sampling will be taken annually between June and September of each year.

Customer-Requested Sampling is available at any home in Aqua’s Public Water System (Identification No. IL1975030), until January 6, 2025.

TAP Sampling is available for any residential customers that own and/or lease a residential house, condominium unit, or apartment unit within the Customer Resources Area and has signed up for the TAP by the March 7, 2025. TAP Sampling includes a pre-inspection sample and may include a post-inspection sample. After a minimum of 75 days from the completion of kitchen faucet remediation work completed as part of TAP, if necessary, residential customers may contact Aqua to collect another sample.

Who will collect water samples at my residence?

All compliance samples, Customer-Requested Sampling, and TAP Sampling may be collected either by Aqua directly (or its consultant) or by customers using sampling supplies provided by Aqua. If customers are taking the samples, Aqua will provide sampling materials and written instructions. There is no cost to customers if they collect their own samples.

Other

Are there lead service lines in University Park?

As part of the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act, effective January 1, 2022, owners and operators of community water supplies are required to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive water service line material inventory and replacement plan. The lead service line replacement and notification requirements can be found at 415 ILCS 5/17.12. A "lead service line" means a service line made of lead that connects the water main to the building inlet, including any lead pigtail, gooseneck, or other fitting that is connected to such lead line.

Aqua currently indicates that there are no lead service lines for its University Park Public Water System under its initial inventory reported on April 14, 2023 (under Section 17.12 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act) and included the following reporting:

• Wholesale Connections 0
• Retail Connections 2870
• Lead 0
• Copper/Lead Solder 733
• Copper/Non-Lead Solder 831
• Galvanized* 0
• Galvanized Requiring Replacement 0
• Galvanized Not Requiring Replacement 0
• Plastic 2
• Unknown Material 1124
• Unknown Not Lead 149
• Cast/Ductile Iron or Transite 19

The complete material inventory was submitted by April 15, 2024 and is still under review by Illinois EPA.

Service Line Material Inventory Reports can be found: https://epa.illinois.gov/topics/drinking-water/public-water-users/lead-service-line-information.html

Under prior requirements found in 415 ILCS 12.11, Aqua provided service line material inventory reports in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Where can I find information on Aqua’s compliance sampling results?

The Illinois EPA provides all sampling information on its online Drinking Water Watch system. The sampling information is online at http://water.epa.state.il.us/dww/index.jsp

To get information on the University Park system:

1. Enter IL1975030 in the “Water System No.” field for Aqua Illinois-University Park and press enter.
2. Click on the blue underlined Water System No. IL1975030.
3. In the ‘Links’ column on the left-hand side of the screen, click on ‘Chem/Rad Samples/Results by Analyte’
4. Scroll down until you see LEAD. Click on the blue, underlined analyte code 1030.
5. The list will show the most recent results first or you can search by a specific sample collection date.
6. To see the regulatory lead action level value for lead, follow the instructions above, but on the 3rd step, click on "Lead and Copper Sample Summary Results.’ This shows the regulatory lead action level values for both lead and copper, with the most recent results first.