By Mike Danahey | The Courier News
Carpentersville may need to spend more than $4 million to bury water and sewer lines below the bottom of the Fox River because dam removal has lowered water levels, officials said.
A water main and a sewer line running along the river’s bottom were exposed this spring, requiring the village to cover them with gravel, Village Manager Brad Stewart said. While the pipes were not damaged and are now “functionally protected,” an engineering review recommended the village bury a new set of pipes at a deeper level, he said.
Preliminary estimates from engineering consultant HR Green put the cost at $3.5 million to $4.2 million.
While the village can afford to pay for the work, the village is pursuing grant money from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to help fund the unexpected expenditure, Stewart said. Grants of up to $5 million are available and require a municipality to provide a 20% match, he said.
Village President John Skillman said he and staff have been speaking with local state legislators, including state Senator Cristina Castro, D-Elgin, and state Reps. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake, and Don DeWitt, R-St. Charles, about the situation.
Skillman noted that installing a deeper sewer line is also being a good neighbor to towns downstream.
“If there were any break in the (existing) sewer line running through the river, it would affect the Fox’s water quality, meaning any waste that got into the water would also affect Elgin, which gets its drinking water from the river,” he said.
Stewart said the two lines in question have been there for about 40 years.
Carpentersville covered exposed water and sewer lines in the Fox River with gravel to protect them from damage but village consultants have advised that such lines should be buried below the river — work that could cost more than $4 million. | Village of Carpentersville
“In my opinion, planning should have foreseen changes in the water levels,” he said. “At no point were we told that water levels near historic lows might affect such lines.”
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Related: “Free flowing: Dam removal work in Carpentersville nearing completion”
Otto destroyed Carpentersville long ago.