Getting Lake Michigan water to Kendall communities will cost an estimated $272 million in capital improvements.

(Editor’s note: This is the first of two parts looking at the effort to bring Lake Michigan water to Kendall County communities)

Bringing Lake Michigan water to Montgomery, Oswego and Yorkville will come at a huge cost, but meets the most pressing need facing the communities.

With the region’s aquifer (underground water supply tapped into for well water) drying up, the communities needed to take a step to ensure water continues to flow to residents and businesses.

“We were not going to sit on our hands and in 15 years have no water. That was not an option,” said Oswego Village President Ryan Kauff-man.

It will cost the three municipalities $272 million just for the infrastructure to bring Lake Michigan water to their residents.

Although water rates are expected to at least double because of the project, ensuring a continual source of water is vital for all of the commu-nities’ future.

“Water is the most important commodity,” Kauffman said. “You shower with it. You cook with it. You keep your grass green with it. You couldn’t survive without it.”

Yorkville City Administrator Bart Olson noted that discussions about water alternatives started in the region in the early 2010s when a study showed that the region’s aquifer would not be able to meet the area’s water demand over the next several decades.

“The question was then ‘Can it be solved?’ and it showed we needed to leave the aquifer at some point,” Olson said. “The Kendall communi-ties of Yorkville, Oswego and Montgomery began looking at what to do for the future, when wells started being impacted and when we would see water levels get lower and lower.”

He said solutions that were examined included tapping into the Fox River with the communities’ own intake facilities, lowering pump heads and continuing with the aquifer system, and bringing Lake Michigan water to the region.

“Ultimately, we decided on the Lake Michigan option,” Olson said. “With having two other municipal partners, we save on long-term building costs.”

Oswego Public Works Director Jennifer Hughes said the first challenge is to show people that there is an issue with the water supply.

“Right now, they open their faucet and there’s water,” Hughes said. “They don’t see that there is a problem lurking deep beneath the ground. We have to convince them that there is a problem.”

Hughes noted that an Illinois water survey noted that some wells in the region could be inoperable as soon as 2030.

Oswego and Yorkville expect to be onto the Lake Michigan pipeline in 2027. Montgomery, however, could have to wait another five years af-ter that to tap into the pipeline.

A stipulation with tapping into Lake Michigan water through the DuPage Water Commission is that no more than 10 percent of a community’s water use can be lost to leaks.

The majority of Montgomery is older than the other two communities and went through its building boom 30 years earlier. Because of that, Montgomery has far more older water mains to replace than the other two communities.

“The Boulder Hill subdivision was done in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Oswego and Yorkville went through their subdivision booms in the mid-’90s,” said Pete Wallers, engineering consultant for the village of Montgomery. “It’s just the timing of the developments.”

Montgomery Village President Matt Brolley said that while it is unfortunate that his community may be five years behind the other two munic-ipalities in getting Lake Michigan water, the water main replacement effort is not something that can be fast-tracked.

“When you are looking at the water main replacements we need to do — we are looking at $80 million to $100 million in main replacements — any quicker than 10 years and it is hard to get contractors and it is hard to get the funding,” Brolley said.

Asked if it is tough knowing that Montgomery could be five years behind the other two communities in getting Lake Michigan water, Brolley responded, “It is not frustrating because we have a lot to do to get to that point.”

The DuPage Water Commission noted the 30-mile pipeline is a good example of intergovernmental agreement.

“After years of forging a strong relationship and positive negotiations, this long-term solution to provide Lake Michigan water to these mu-nicipalities is an excellent example of good governance and beneficial access to the shared services of our most precious resource — water,” explained Jim Zay, chairman of DWC.

Montgomery’s Brolley said the magnitude of the effort to bring Lake Michigan water to the three communities is not lost on any of the individ-uals involved.

“This project is more important than anything any of us as elected officials or staff members have worked on,” Brolley said. “I can’t stress enough how important it is for all levels of government to work together for this strategic benefit.”

He noted the Illinois General Assembly also recognized the importance of the project, getting the  legislation for the three communities to join the DuPage Water Commission passed in just one legislative session.

“It highlights how important this is; and we all agree that having sustainable drinking water is paramount,” Brolley added.