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Wheaton reviews risk-based water plan; lead service line replacements targeted for 2031
Summary
City staff and consultant Arcadis presented a risk-based analysis prioritizing replacement of aging transmission mains (including a recommended Roosevelt Road main replacement) and a citywide lead service line replacement project slated for completion in 2031; staff also urged SCADA cybersecurity upgrades and emergency-well assessments.
The Wheaton City Council on April 13 reviewed a risk-based analysis of the city's water infrastructure intended to guide capital investments within the constraints of the Water Fund. City Manager Michael G. Dzugan introduced the report and said staff used Arcadis's updated hydraulic model to develop a capital improvement plan.
Nicholas Kallmyer, senior water/wastewater engineer for consulting firm Arcadis, told the council the analysis ranked assets by likelihood and consequence of failure and recommended replacing a large-diameter transmission main on Roosevelt Road, where mains are approaching the end of useful service life and areas with suspected lead service lines were identified. The report also recommended assessing SCADA system vulnerabilities to mitigate potential cybersecurity attacks and evaluating the city's emergency wells, which may degrade if unused.
Assistant Director of Public Works Sean Walsh outlined staff priorities informed by the report: replace all lead service lines (the project is anticipated to be completed in 2031); accelerate replacement of high-risk Category 4 and 5 water mains; assess and rehabilitate six emergency wells (two of which could supply the city during an outage of the DuPage Water Commission); and implement SCADA upgrades.
Council discussion focused on contingency planning for a full DuPage Water Commission outage and the trade-offs of funding multiple major projects from the Water Fund. City Manager Dzugan cautioned about water-quality concerns from inactive wells and noted widespread regional well use could deplete groundwater. Staff said balancing the listed projects within the Water Fund will be challenging and that they will continue to pursue grant funding to help pay for capital work.
The council did not take a formal vote on funding at the session; members thanked Arcadis and staff for the framework and asked staff to continue refining costs and priorities for future council consideration.
