Lake County Gazette

The village of Mundelein examines its water systems.

“So these images are things they're very extreme versions of what we're looking for in stormwater when we complete our inspections,” Karolina Cho, a Gewalt Hamilton Associates representative, said during the meeting. “There are 13 outfalls I believe we have on file currently from Mundelein that we inspect. That means those are 13 that are there, most of them are within the right of ways village maintained. So the things we're looking for, things like oil sheens, excessive size, or any suds in general we always do note and then any kind of blockages. So whether that's leaves, twigs, or large pieces of wood. Those are our main concerns.”

Trustee Kerston Russel was absent from the meeting.

At their February 27th council meeting, village officials of Mundelein welcomed Cho the firm that submits the annual stormwater system reports that the city is required to make. She attended the board meeting to share on the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, a program required by the EPA to monitor municipal stormwater and sewer systems. The EPA has six standards for these monitoring protocols, and Gewalt Hamilton Associates focuses on aiding municipalities with two of those: illicit discharge detection and elimination (IDDE), and pollution prevention and good housekeeping. This means Gewalt Hamilton focuses a lot on water flow and blockages in the city, however the EPA is a bit more concerned about overall water quality. The EPA also wants to monitor erosion sites and rates, especially in residential areas where it could impact flooding in homes, so these areas are noted in the inspections as well. They also inspect all streambeds and banks in the area, looking at algae and outflow areas, marking any oil or suds and taking water quality samples.

The board voted to a resolution approving a first amendment to a property management agreement with CBRE, Inc. regarding Village-owned property at 165 North Archer Avenue.

Cho explained that the permit is updated every five years, although they are currently behind because of covid. There are no major changes for the village of Mundelein anytime soon, although the permit should be renewed sometime in March 2023. When that happens, Gewalt will inform Mundelein of any recommended changes. Cho said there is a potential that the village would be required to join a watershed group because of its position in the Des Plaines watershed, however, that has not yet been confirmed. It would be a fairly low expense for the village as they pay by acreage and the watershed group would then handle a lot of monitoring and quality samples that the village is required to do.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Monday at the Mundelein Village Hall at 300 Plaza Circle.

The village board also voted to oppose the proposed Illinois Department of Natural Resources Annual Lake Michigan Water Allocation Review Fees. The board explained that they felt the program was not strictly necessary nor very detailed, and could be covered by other means. They also felt that the water in the area was already controlled enough by the IDNR.