Turn on the tap and water comes out! So how did it get there?

Water seems to be a given. You turn on the tap and out it comes. Round Lake is very lucky because we were one of the founding members of an organization called the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency or JAWA for short. What does this mean? The short answer is Lake Michigan water some of the best drinking water in the country comes out of taps becuase our membership in this organization.

JAWA represents the community's of Grayslake, Gurnee, Lake Bluff, Libertyville, Mundelein, Round Lake, Round Lake Beach, Round Lake Heights, Round Lake Park, Lake County, Vernon Hills and Wildwood. So if you live in these areas and have city or village water, it came from Lake Michigan.

We have two water towers in the village, one on Wilson Road in the Northwest corner of Valley Lakes, the second is near the corner of 134 and Hart Road. You can't miss them they are big and white! We also have a ground storage tank along Nippersink Road, which we are going to be expanding to contain 2.5 million gallons of storage in this fiscal year. This project will be paid for by bonds from impact fees developers have paid to the village over the years.

The website for JAWA has lots of interesting information on water, Lake Michigan and the agency. Some of the interesting facts are:

• The lake contains so much water that 400,000 gallons of water (rain or snow) fall on it every second of the day!
• 320,000 gallons of water evaporate off the lake every second as well.
• Lake Michigan is the 5th largest lake in the world. (Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, Lake Victoria and Lake Huron are bigger)
  

I have appointed Trustee Don Newby as Round Lake's Director on JAWA and I serve as the alternate for the monthly board meetings. Don has served for many years on this board.