Yorkville making strides toward Lake Michigan water sourcing

Yorkville City Council members approved another step in the process of tapping into Lake Michigan as the city’s water source at their March 12 meeting.

Yorkville, along with Oswego and Montgomery, have joined the DuPage Water Commission and will take part in the pipeline project to bring lake water to the three communities. The project will involve the construction of a new pipeline connecting the three communities with the DuPage water system at Naperville.

Council members approved a second intergovernmental escrow agreement with Oswego, Montgomery and the DuPage Water Commission in an unanimous vote. Under the agreement, each municipality will pay an equal share of the cost to source the water.

City Administrator Bart Olson said the agreement is for the second phase of engineering, including project design and land acquisition, and is expected take the city through the bidding stage of the process, which is planned for late 2025.

Olson said this phase of engineering is estimated at $20 million, which will be split evenly between the three municipalities and paid in three tranches over the next several months. He said they expect to tap into the lake water by 2027.

The city is still in the process of obtaining a water allocation permit from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, obtaining a federal loan for upwards of $100 million, and reducing its loss rate to 10% by 2026, as is required to qualify for access to lake water.

The loan would come from the federal Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program (WIFIA) and would have an interest rate of about 3.5%.

The city is in the process of conducting a water loss audit to assess the current loss rate, and has been taking steps to reduce the rate, including water main replacements and system improvements and updates.

Yorkville’s share of the total cost of the project has been estimated at up to $150 million, and is still being assessed by the DuPage Water Commission. Olson said inflation is a major factor in the rising cost assessments, and expects an updated figures to be presented to the city in the next few months.