Elgin highlights progress on lead service line replacement; awards emergency replacement contract

City water staff and a contractor for the EPA’s Get the Lead Out (GLOW) initiative briefed the City Council on March 26 about the city’s lead service line identification and replacement efforts and community outreach, and council approved an emergency replacement contract.

Water Director Nora Bertram summarized the city’s progress and plans: Elgin has replaced nearly 2,500 lead service lines since 2018 and had replaced 27 so far in 2025, with plans to replace roughly 1,000 more this year as construction season progresses. Bertram told the council that “we have a lot of initiatives” and that planned 2025 projects are out to bid; she cited funding coming from multiple sources including Illinois EPA (IEPA) Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loans, principal-forgiveness grants, DECO/DECEO grants, ARPA funds and an EPA grant. “We’re planning for over 1,000 lead service lines to be replaced,” she said.

Tiffany Reid, a contractor with the EPA’s GLOW initiative who lives in Elgin, described GLOW’s free technical-assistance services funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Reid said GLOW helps with historical record review, visual inspections, community engagement and funding/replacement planning. She described translated outreach materials, community events and voluntary water-testing and filter-kit distribution programs used to identify likely lead-service-line locations and encourage resident participation.

In response to a council question, staff provided an overall figure for the scale of remaining work: Bertram said the city is “under 10,000 known lead service lines” with “about 1,200 unknown” lines — “so we are less than 11,000 now” to be replaced or assessed. Bertram said the city has replaced 2,500 lines to date and expects to complete roughly 3,500 with the current year’s planned work.

Council subsequently approved, by roll call, an emergency contract for the replacement of disturbed lead service lines. The council awarded bid 25-009 — the emergency replacement contract — to Bridal Construction Corporation of St. Charles in the amount of $699,110. The motion passed on a roll call vote recorded during the bids section of the meeting.

Bertram and Reid encouraged residents in project areas to sign temporary construction easements, participate in voluntary water testing and request free filters; staff noted that every household receiving a service-line replacement also receives a filter and follow-up testing options. Reid said GLOW support is time-limited but local replacement efforts will continue and that the team is preparing applications for larger federal grants to accelerate replacement.