Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register
The Springfield City Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed Hunter Lake as its choice for a supplemental water source, uniting behind the proposal that has been the subject of a decades-spanning debate.
Nine of the 10 aldermen, along with Mayor Jim Langfelder, co-sponsored the ordinance in support of building Hunter Lake. Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin was the only alderman who wasn’t listed as a sponsor, and he was the only dissenting vote.
McMenamin said he can’t support spending what could amount “to $150 million” on a new lake when the city has other pressing concerns. He cited police and fire pension debt, aging infrastructure and the financial instability of City Water, Light and Power’s electric fund.
“We can’t have everything we want, and the city can’t have everything it wants, either,” McMenamin said. He called a possible water shortage a “speculative need” that may arise every hundred years or so, but property owners experience issues related to the aging sewers annually.
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Don Hanrahan, a Hunter Lake opponent, said the “alleged need” for the backup water source has been exaggerated.
Springfield has spent north of $25 million studying the second lake and buying more than 7,000 acres on which to build it. The city would need to buy another roughly 700 acres, and spend more than $100 million more to carry out the project.
Tuesday wasn’t the first time a Springfield City Council has voted in favor of moving ahead with a backup water supply. The council voted in 1973 to support building a second lake, and the city began acquiring some of the land after that. A subsequent vote favored naming it Hunter Lake after CWLP Commissioner John Hunter.
The council voted again in December 1988, authorizing the construction of “Lake Springfield II.”
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The Sierra Club and four other organizations penned a letter to the mayor and aldermen urging a “public process” with more public input on a number of CWLP issues, including Hunter Lake, the continued operation of Dallman Power Plant units 1 and 2, and the utility’s electric division debt.
Citizens for Sensible Water Use, the Illinois Environmental Council, Prairie Rivers Network and Sustainable Springfield Inc., also signed on to the letter.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 