Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Yorkville says IDNR changing water loss rate for Lake Michigan project, construction making problem worse

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Yorkville says IDNR changing water loss rate for Lake Michigan project, construction making problem worse · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Yorkville says idn R changing water loss rate for Lake
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  Speaker 1: Michigan project construction making problem worse. Written by Joey Weslow,
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  Speaker 1: this article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  Speaker 1: to you by Everlett. For the last four years, the
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  Speaker 1: City of Yorkville has been replacing older water mains across town,
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  Speaker 1: trying to reduce water loss through ruptured pipes. Reducing water
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  Speaker 1: loss is a key requirement by the Illinois Department of
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  Speaker 1: Natural Resources before the city can connect water lines to
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  Speaker 1: complete the two hundred and twenty four point four million
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  Speaker 1: dollars Lake Michigan Water Sourcing project by the summer twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight. The IDNR previously required all cities hooking up
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  Speaker 1: to Lake Michigan water to reduce non revenue water loss
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  Speaker 1: to under ten percent. One of the main culprits of
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  Speaker 1: water loss is leaky pipes and water main ruptures. However,
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  Speaker 1: as Yorkville has already invested almost twenty million dollars in
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  Speaker 1: water main improvements, the ten percent water loss goal is
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  Speaker 1: still out of reach. The problem has been the more
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  Speaker 1: construction work the city has undertaken, the more difficult that
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  Speaker 1: benchmark has been to achieve. Even with water main overhauls
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  Speaker 1: across the city, workers have only been able to reduce
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  Speaker 1: the non revenue water loss rate to thirteen percent. City
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  Speaker 1: Administrator bart Olson said the IDNR has taken note of
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  Speaker 1: Yorkville's efforts to reduce water loss. He said several communities
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  Speaker 1: hooked up to Lake Michigan water have not met the
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  Speaker 1: ten percent benchmark. Many communities range between ten to thirty percent,
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  Speaker 1: depending on the age of the community's underground pipes. Olsen
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  Speaker 1: said the problem is making the IDNR reconsider its water
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  Speaker 1: loss requirements. He said the problem is the construction for
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  Speaker 1: water improvements is actually causing more water loss. Alderman Craig
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  Speaker 1: Sooling explained, with new piping, you're creating higher volume and
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  Speaker 1: higher pressure, which then erupts though the weaker parts of
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  Speaker 1: the water mains further down the line. The new piping
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  Speaker 1: is creating pressure to increase, and it's going to find
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  Speaker 1: the path of least resistance in the weakest spots, Soling
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  Speaker 1: said during the June twenty third City Council meeting. Soling
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  Speaker 1: said increased water main ruptures and the increased volumes of
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  Speaker 1: water needed to flush new systems have increased the current
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  Speaker 1: water loss figures. The city expects the water loss number
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  Speaker 1: to come down in the future once the pipes settle
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  Speaker 1: and new construction slows, he said. Relative to the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the du Page Water Commission, the body that controls
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  Speaker 1: the Lake Michigan hookups, Yorkville's water infrastructure system is relatively
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  Speaker 1: young and relatively well constructed. Soling said this results in
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  Speaker 1: far less water main breaks in Yorkville than in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of other towns across northern Illinois. He said IDNR
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  Speaker 1: rate under review. The IDNR is working with water agencies
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  Speaker 1: across the country to come up with another metric of
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  Speaker 1: approval based upon the age of the water system, how
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  Speaker 1: much the city has invested in improvements, and the scale
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  Speaker 1: of improvements made before a community can hook up to
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  Speaker 1: Lake Michigan water. Olson said, currently we would meet that
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  Speaker 1: The idn R signaled to us they don't anticipate there
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  Speaker 1: being an issue with us connecting to the Lake Michiganism
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  Speaker 1: project in twenty twenty eight with our current water loss figures.
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  Speaker 1: Olson said during the meeting, as long as we continue
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  Speaker 1: the plan that the IDNR endorsed and approved a few
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  Speaker 1: years ago. Olsen said, the new standards will affect all
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  Speaker 1: communities connecting to Lake Michigan water, including Joliet, Oswego and Montgomery.
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  Speaker 1: He said. While the water main construction improvements in Yorkville
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  Speaker 1: have not helped the city meet the original ten percent
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  Speaker 1: water loss benmarks, the investment still sets the city up
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  Speaker 1: for long term sustainability. To help pay for the Lake
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  Speaker 1: Michigan Water project, the city approved twenty percent annual water
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  Speaker 1: rates for five consecutive years. It's obviously been a significant
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  Speaker 1: capital infusion on our on our residence part to do that,
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  Speaker 1: but long term it should pay dividends with reduced water
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  Speaker 1: loss figures years into the future.