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Joliet details multi-year water-main replacement plan; 2025 work to cover about 30 miles
Summary
Director of Public Utilities Allison Swisher told the City Council the city will prioritize replacing water mains built before 1970, pair replacements with lead service-line removal at no cost to residents, and use low-interest state and federal financing including IEPA SRF and WIFIA.
Allison Swisher, director of public utilities for the City of Joliet, gave the City Council an update March 4 on a multi-year water-main replacement program aimed at cutting leaks and reducing the city’s non-revenue water.
Swisher told the council the program will prioritize mains constructed before 1970 and rely heavily on low-interest financing. “We are replacing all of the water mains within the city that were, constructed prior to 1970,” she said. She described the overall replacement effort and a separate 2025 work program focused on areas with the most water loss.
The city’s longer-term financing plan relies on the Illinois EPA State Revolving Fund (SRF) and the federal WIFIA program. Swisher said the broader program cost is roughly $594,000,000, and the City’s 2025 program will cover about 30 miles at an approximate cost of $75,000,000.
Why it matters: the city is trying to lower “non-revenue water” — water lost to leaks and breaks — to 10% by 2030. Swisher said reducing real losses (pipe leaks) is the primary contributor toward that target and will also reduce outages for residents when mains break.
Swisher described how the city will coordinate multiple programs to reduce repeat digging and disruption. “One of the biggest keys to our success is communication with our residents,” she told the council, describing a communications plan that emphasizes an interactive project map and weekly updates on the city website. The city also intends to coordinate timing with resurfacing and sewer rehabilitation so crews “dig once.”
Lead service lines: Swisher said crews will replace full lead services when encountered during main replacements — both the public portion and the private portion — “at no cost to the residents.” She said Joliet has an inventory of service-line material and a public resource page at joliet.gov/gettheleadout.
Construction oversight and outreach: Swisher said the city has contracted Burns & McDonnell to provide on-site inspectors and resident engineers for the projects. Outreach tools will include mailed letters (3,500 letters were sent recently), an open house at the Treatment Plant Administration Building, neighborhood presentations, Everbridge notifications, social media and door hangers before construction starts and at major milestones.
Timing and next steps: Swisher said work will begin this spring and that schedule staggering is intended to achieve better contractor pricing and to balance inspection staff resources. She asked for patience from drivers and residents as construction season progresses.
“Again, this is our 2025 program. It's approximately 30 miles,” Swisher said. “We do a lot of coordination with our public works projects and the resurfacing projects...we really want to have a policy of only digging once.”
The update was given as part of the council’s regular meeting; no final action or contract award on the citywide replacement program was taken at the March 4 session.
