Not sure why this would be a problem. I also do not know all of the history of the area the OP lives in.
To me this is part of what a government exists for ensuring the safety of the resources and mechanisms they collect taxes from you to do.
Think of it as you already paid for this service. What they are doing is inspecting the faucets and connections in your home to make sure it is connected to the drinking/tap water and not the gray/waste/sewage system.
An important question to ask yourself might be "Why are they doing this?" Has their been reports where it has not been separated? Did some moron contractor/plumber in the area connect a waste water and top feed?
Personally I would suggest getting your water tested ASAP and then if your civil water authority is trustworthy follow up with the survey.
As previously stated, the issue is not that they want to do their jobs, but that they believe they are entitled to enter your home because someonesomewheremight be doing something they shouldn't.
No one has the right to enter your home without reasonable suspicion of an emergency or a court-issued warrant. Short of that, you can choose to let them in, but, you are not required to.
There are many reasons you may not want them in your home, such as the reasons expressed by OP, which are perfectly reasonable. If he is doing something wrong, let the WD prove it to a court, or at least show reasonable probability, and get legal authority to enter, rather than pretending they already have it for everyone at all times.
Again I am not sure about the local authority of the OP as I stated. I also stated if they are trustworthy, lastly I suggested getting the water tested themselves and after that fill out the survey. I never stated they have the right to enter a home uninvited and they did not either they said they would schedule a time with you.
Now the OP’s civil authority might be malicious and this is nice language but will be actually be much worse actions and an abuse of power.
The letter reads to me like a typical professional letter. I get sales emails more aggressive than this.
The difference is your tax dollars aren't subsidizing the aggressive sales letters, and no salesman will claim that they have a right to enter your private residence to do their job.
Even if they are trustworthy, OP has the right to refuse it for whatever reason he/she wishes. Rights are not conditional. I'm not saying OP should, necessarily, refuse them entry, but I am saying if he or she doesn't want them in the house, they don't have the right to enter, without probable cause.
Also, it's worth noting that IL is super corrupt, even outside the city. I believe IL consistently ranks #1 in corrupt states, and Chicago either 2nd or 3rd (DC is always 1st) in corrupt cities. The metrics used are the number of public officials convicted of a crime, per capita.
Yes, Illinois is corrupt to the core. We have way more units of government than any other state, and the bullshit seeps into every one of them. It’s entirely possible that they are actually concerned about improper piping connections, but experience tells me they’re just looking for a reason to fine people for not pulling permits when they had work done or something.
the home is inspected at the time of sale. any non compliant, irregular, non working issues would be discovered at that time.
only if a homeowner is engaging in major remodeling on his own and/or without use of licensed contractor/professionals might he introduce a substandard or non compliant issue, but it's still his own problem (would invalidate insurance) and not addressed by a random survey. this is egregious bureaucratic overreach.
Thank you for your comment, this is what I had wondered about, perhaps the previous homeowners doing something wrong. My dad had a commercial property where his tenants added a bathroom. He tried to do something with the building later, and the city noticed the bathroom wasn’t on the original plans. He got hit with an almost $4k fine for not pulling a permit, even though he didn’t know they had put in the bathroom at the time. That’s more along the lines of what I was worried about, because I haven’t done anything to the house myself.
Not sure why this would be a problem. I also do not know all of the history of the area the OP lives in.
To me this is part of what a government exists for ensuring the safety of the resources and mechanisms they collect taxes from you to do.
Think of it as you already paid for this service. What they are doing is inspecting the faucets and connections in your home to make sure it is connected to the drinking/tap water and not the gray/waste/sewage system.
An important question to ask yourself might be "Why are they doing this?" Has their been reports where it has not been separated? Did some moron contractor/plumber in the area connect a waste water and top feed?
Personally I would suggest getting your water tested ASAP and then if your civil water authority is trustworthy follow up with the survey.
As previously stated, the issue is not that they want to do their jobs, but that they believe they are entitled to enter your home because someone somewhere might be doing something they shouldn't.
No one has the right to enter your home without reasonable suspicion of an emergency or a court-issued warrant. Short of that, you can choose to let them in, but, you are not required to.
There are many reasons you may not want them in your home, such as the reasons expressed by OP, which are perfectly reasonable. If he is doing something wrong, let the WD prove it to a court, or at least show reasonable probability, and get legal authority to enter, rather than pretending they already have it for everyone at all times.
Again I am not sure about the local authority of the OP as I stated. I also stated if they are trustworthy, lastly I suggested getting the water tested themselves and after that fill out the survey. I never stated they have the right to enter a home uninvited and they did not either they said they would schedule a time with you.
Now the OP’s civil authority might be malicious and this is nice language but will be actually be much worse actions and an abuse of power.
The letter reads to me like a typical professional letter. I get sales emails more aggressive than this.
The difference is your tax dollars aren't subsidizing the aggressive sales letters, and no salesman will claim that they have a right to enter your private residence to do their job.
Even if they are trustworthy, OP has the right to refuse it for whatever reason he/she wishes. Rights are not conditional. I'm not saying OP should, necessarily, refuse them entry, but I am saying if he or she doesn't want them in the house, they don't have the right to enter, without probable cause.
Also, it's worth noting that IL is super corrupt, even outside the city. I believe IL consistently ranks #1 in corrupt states, and Chicago either 2nd or 3rd (DC is always 1st) in corrupt cities. The metrics used are the number of public officials convicted of a crime, per capita.
Yes, Illinois is corrupt to the core. We have way more units of government than any other state, and the bullshit seeps into every one of them. It’s entirely possible that they are actually concerned about improper piping connections, but experience tells me they’re just looking for a reason to fine people for not pulling permits when they had work done or something.
the home is inspected at the time of sale. any non compliant, irregular, non working issues would be discovered at that time.
only if a homeowner is engaging in major remodeling on his own and/or without use of licensed contractor/professionals might he introduce a substandard or non compliant issue, but it's still his own problem (would invalidate insurance) and not addressed by a random survey. this is egregious bureaucratic overreach.
Thank you for your comment, this is what I had wondered about, perhaps the previous homeowners doing something wrong. My dad had a commercial property where his tenants added a bathroom. He tried to do something with the building later, and the city noticed the bathroom wasn’t on the original plans. He got hit with an almost $4k fine for not pulling a permit, even though he didn’t know they had put in the bathroom at the time. That’s more along the lines of what I was worried about, because I haven’t done anything to the house myself.