On June 12, trustees approved a payment for the lake water transmission main final design engineering for $2.79 million, to Christopher Burke Engineering. The proposal will bring the village through the process of land evaluation through bidding and the beginning of construction of the nearly 17-mile pipeline corridor.
Engineering design totals more than $2 million
By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
The village of Shorewood has taken the next important step in securing a pipeline for Lake Michigan water for residents.
On June 12, trustees approved a payment for the lake water transmission main final design engineering for $2.79 million, to Christopher Burke Engineering.
“This is the next step in this process that we’ve been going through for the past at least a few years, more than that really, in bringing a long term, sustainable water source to the village,” said Bryan Welch of Christopher Burke Engineering.
The proposal will bring the village through the process of land evaluation through bidding and the beginning of construction.
The large-scale project will be broken into four or five smaller projects to make the construction more manageable, and to take advantage of construction phases as needed.
Welch said the project has several components:
EPA loan
The village will seek an IEPA low-interest loan to fund the project.
Site investigation
Engineers will conduct multiple surveys throughout the corridor.
“The project length is about 16.7 miles,” Welch said. “The corridor is anywhere from 150 feet to 500 feet or more in width, so it’s a big area to look at. There’s all kinds of site investigation, from wetland delineation to field tile investigation to topographic survey to geotechnical investigation. There’s a significant effort with that. We’re going to do everything we can now… however, much of this will have to take place in the fall, after the crops come down, because most of the corridor is agricultural.”
Engineering and design
The village will design the actual transmission pipeline as well as the receiving station.
Permitting
Welch noted that the village will need 10 to 15 needed permits from different agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers, the IEPA, and permits for crossing rivers and streams, railroad tracks, and municipalities.
Coordination and meetings
The village and engineers will meet with various agencies and will also seek out input from the public.
The initial plans to transmit Lake Michigan water to Shorewood was to follow I-55, however, after a study was completed in 2016, the village identified an alternate route that follows much of the ComEd easement. This new plan allows the village to reach a more affordable agreement with ComEd that is cheaper than dealing with crossing over roads and utilities.
Mayor Rick Chapman noted the importance of the large-scale project.
“This is undoubtedly by far the largest project that this village has ever stepped forward on,” Chapman said.
Chapman thanked the village engineering firms that have worked on the project, but also made a hat tip to former and current village trustees who got the ball rolling, including Gary Fitzgerald, Dan Gron, Cene Schwartz, Jim McDonald, Dan Anderson, and Lea Stahr.
“They stood fast, they asked a lot of great questions, they pushed to get the answers about the water situation and the crisis that, at that time, was a small crisis. Today, if you ask a scientist, it’s a big crisis,” Chapman said.
Village officials said staying on well water is no longer feasible for most of Will County, with continued long-term draws changing the landscape of the deep aquafer.
Lake Michigan water will also provide uniform water quality throughout town.
In May, the village paid $15,000 to Edward J. Baits and Associates to conduct an appraisal of the ComEd easement.
The engineering schedule is set to last until the spring of 2020. The process to get Lake Michigan water to the village is expected to last five to seven years.