Oswego Village Board members Tuesday will consider an intergovernmental agreement between Yorkville and Montgomery that would establish the shared costs associated with bringing Lake Michigan water to the three communities.
Overall, the projected costs for bringing Lake Michigan water through the DuPage Water Commission have increased from an estimated $161 million in 2021 to $258 million due in part to a reconfigured route and inflation driving up construction costs, officials said.
The staff of the three communities have been meeting with the DuPage Water Commission over the past several months to get updates on “route planning efforts” and cost estimates of the project based on the first two phases of engineering agreements, according to a joint statement.
The communities and the DuPage Water Commission had projected the “cost distribution” at an estimated $74 million for Yorkville, $44 million for Montgomery and $43 million for Oswego – a total cost of $161 million.
“Since that time, the DuPage Water Commission has developed a revised alignment from the original transmission main route to avoid areas with high vehicular traffic and utility conflicts, and generally to utilize areas that are publicly-owned or utility-owned,” according to the joint statement.
“This new planned route accomplishes those tasks and should be a more efficient and cost-effective route as compared to the original transmission main route,” they said.
The location of the route is “still in flux” depending on easement acquisition efforts and “will remain confidential until it is finalized,” the statement said.
The statement cited “large inflationary increases” in prices in the construction industry in just the last few years as another contributing factor to the increased costs for the joint project.
The bulk of the cost increase is for construction costs and other essentials, Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo told The Beacon-News.
He said it’s important to note that the cost estimates not only assume inflationary costs out into 2027, but also include a 25% contingency.
“We are trying to estimate very conservatively,” he said.
The new proposed “cost distribution” is $92.3 million for Oswego, $63.6 million for Montgomery and $102.3 million for Yorkville.
The projections take into consideration “Oswego will likely have the greater population” and be the heaviest water user of the system in 2050, while Yorkville will be the second heaviest user and Montgomery using the least amount of water.
The agreement also considers the proximity to the existing DuPage Water Commission system endpoint in Naperville, with Montgomery being the closest, Yorkville being the furthest and Oswego being in the middle, according to the statement.
The next shared agreement – to formally join the DuPage Water Commission and establish a construction funding agreement – is due later this summer or fall, according to officials from the three towns.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
