By: Diane Benjamin

I write and research stories based on:

1. Watching meetings
2. Tips and questions from Readers
3. Things I see and want to know more about and assume you would too

This story was spurred by a reader. They wanted to know how much water Rivian used since we are in a drought. My first thought was Rivian uses Normal’s water since the plant is in Normal. I decided to ask Bloomington anyway since the reader thought they heard Bloomington is their supplier.

Hopefully no one ever has to pick between having water for the citizens and jobs

at the Rivian plant. Read on!

I sent a FOIA to the City of Bloomington on February 9th. I received a note the next day my request was cancelled because Bloomington doesn’t have that information, I was told to contact Normal.

Then on February 11th WGLT did a story featuring Mayor Brady in which he said he talked to large companies, like Rivian, about conserving water. Hum.

Since I’m one of the probably thousands who has Brady’s cell phone number, I texted him the cancellation I received and asked if Rivian actually used Bloomington water.

He called me the following morning saying the plant uses Bloomington water, fire protection water is from Normal. He said he would check into my denial.

Since I didn’t hear anything on the 12th, on Friday the 13th I emailed the City Clerk asking if they figured out yet my FOIA shouldn’t have been cancelled. Shortly thereafter I received 3 months of bills for 7 Rivian addresses. 3 are on Hamilton Road, 2 on College, and 1 on Rivian Motorway. Of course that one is the plant.

Rivian plant bills show:

-January bill shows cubic feet used of 552,360.

-December shows 602,600

-November shows 814,400

100 cubic feet equals 748 gallons, that’s a lot of water! Do your own math.

I have no idea how much water is currently in both Bloomington Lakes, maybe the City should give us a number instead of the feet below normal.

This usage chart is from the January bill:

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Obviously usage is way down from what is was last fall and part of summer.

Rivian did not get a discount on usage, they were charged exactly according to the table here: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/departments/water/resident-community/water-rate-increase-and-capital-project-updates

While you are on that page, see what water rates are increasing to on May 1st. Also see the verbiage below that table. Your water bills will continue to increase without a vote from your representatives.

All 3 months of plant water bills are below, the other 5 bills are minimal in comparison. Those files are listed below.

I think all of these are warehouse space.

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I asked Grok (AI) why Bloomington supplies water, this was the response:

The Rivian manufacturing plant is located in Normal, Illinois, but it receives its potable (drinking/process) water supply from the City of Bloomington rather than the Town of Normal’s own system. This arrangement dates back to the plant’s origins (originally built for Mitsubishi Motors, later used by other manufacturers before Rivian acquired it in 2018–2019) and has continued under Rivian.

Key reasons include:

• Infrastructure and historical setup: The large industrial site in Normal is connected to Bloomington’s water distribution system, which draws from surface reservoirs (Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake). Normal primarily relies on groundwater wells for its municipal supply, which may not have had the capacity, pressure, volume, or infrastructure to reliably serve such a high-demand industrial user at the time of original development or expansions. Bloomington’s system was better positioned or already piped to serve the area.
• Confirmed in local reporting: Sources explicitly note that “Rivian, while based in Normal, uses Bloomington’s water system.” This has been referenced in discussions about water quality issues in Normal (e.g., naturally occurring ammonia in wells) and during drought-related conservation efforts, where Bloomington has engaged major users like Rivian to reduce consumption voluntarily.

AI doesn’t always tell the truth. I never suggest trusting it – especially chatgbt.