Montgomery board previews Lake Michigan water transition, screens treatment videos and receives AWWA gold award

The Village of Montgomery Board of Trustees on July 28 heard an extended presentation on the village's planned move from its current aquifer supply to Lake Michigan water supplied through the DuPage Water Commission, and viewed two educational videos documenting the village's water treatment process and common causes of high water bills.

Manager Nemitz told trustees the shift from the aquifer to Lake Michigan "represents a major step forward" and called the project one of the largest the village has undertaken. The presentation emphasized infrastructure upgrades, resident education and conservation as complementary efforts to secure a sustainable water source.

The board watched a plant tour that walked through the treatment steps used at Montgomery's Line Softening Water Treatment Plant. The tour described an air stripper used to oxidize and remove iron, a line-softening cone where a lime slurry raises pH into the 10.7–10.9 range, recarbonation to lower pH back toward neutral, and final treatment steps that include chlorination, fluoride addition and filtration before storage and distribution. The presenter described the system as largely gravity-fed and compared the filters to a household Brita-style filter for capturing fine particulates.

Linda, a village utility-billing employee who appears in the second video, told residents how to check for common causes of unexpectedly high bills: "If you receive a high water bill, that the first place you should always check is any of your toilets." She noted a running toilet can use as much as 240 gallons per hour and demonstrated using dye tablets to check for leaks. The village also said customers should check their meter reading before and after leaving the house to detect unreported usage.

Officials said the videos are the first steps in a broader public-education campaign. The water division plans two outreach activations at Montgomery Fest: a Friday-night "no water no beer" volunteer activity at the beer tent and a DuPage Water Commission booth on Saturday to show how water is sourced and treated and to teach conservation practices.

The Illinois Section of the American Water Works Association presented Montgomery with its Gold Water Ambassador award for 2024. "In 2024, we awarded village of Montgomery a gold level, which is the highest honor," said Annie Story, executive director of the Illinois Section AWWA, noting the recognition reflects community outreach and education efforts and support for licensure and continuing education among operations staff.

Trustees and staff named water division personnel who participated in the videos and production, including Jeremy Moss (water and sewer superintendent), Jason Carey, Andy Jackson and Joe Munder.

Separately, staff described a related capital project intended to reduce system water loss: an upcoming design for water-main work on South River Street that would remove two automatic flushers. Director Wolf said water-loss calculations put the system at about 13% loss in water year 2024 and estimated removing the two auto flushers could lower that to about 10.7%. The project was presented to qualify the work for possible Illinois State Revolving Fund financing.

What’s next: trustees were told the village will continue the outreach campaign as it advances the Lake Michigan connection and related infrastructure projects; a design contract for the South River Street water-main work was approved so the village can be shovel-ready for potential funding opportunities.