Aurora may soon start the second phase of a project to replace lead water service lines in the city using a roughly $3 million forgivable loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The City Council Infrastructure and Technology Committee unanimously recommended recently a nearly $3.3 million contract with Brandt Excavating, Inc., to replace around 350 water service lines that contain lead, a toxic metal that is harmful even at low levels of exposure. Brandt Excavating was also previously awarded a $4.6 million contract for phase one of the project in 2022.
On Tuesday, the Committee of the Whole placed the item on the consent agenda for the Aurora City Council’s Jan. 28 meeting. The consent agenda is typically used for routine or non-controversial items that are all approved with one vote and without discussion instead of needing to vote on and talk about each individual item.
The roughly 350 water service lines set to be replaced would be within three specific census tracts within the city.
One of the tracts is a rough rectangle with North Farnsworth Avenue as the western edge, the Kane County and DuPage County border as the eastern edge, East New York Street as the southern edge and the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks as the northern edge.
Another tract, also a rough rectangle, extends just beyond Highland Avenue on the western edge, appears to have the Fox River as the eastern edge, generally stops at West Galena Boulevard on the southern edge and has Illinois Avenue as the northern edge.
The last tract is odd-shaped and generally has South Lincoln Avenue as the western edge, Fifth Street as the eastern edge, Ashland Avenue as the southern edge and East Benton Street as the northern edge.
John Hoffmann, city of Aurora engineering coordinator, told the City Council Finance Committee last August that these three areas were chosen for the project not because the water quality in these areas is particularly bad, but because it gave them the best chance to be selected for the loan through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s Public Water Supply Loan Program.
The Aurora City Council voted around that time last year to approve an agreement with the IEPA for the forgivable loan, which was required before the city could start accepting bids from companies for the project.
According to documents provided with Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting agenda, Brandt Excavating was the lowest responsible bidder and came in roughly 7.5% under what the city estimated the project would cost.
Hoffmann told The Beacon-News on Thursday that he would expect construction to start in the late spring and is hoping the project will be completed in 2025, but it could carry over into 2026. The exact starting date depends on the IEPA fully approving the forgivable loan, he said.
Aurora has an estimated 17,000 lead water service lines connected to the public water system, according to a staff report about the project.
The city had a program of gradually replacing the lines as they were disrupted during other projects, but new guidelines from the state and the federal EPA over the past few years have required the city to speed up this replacement effort.
Hoffmann told the Finance Committee last August that the city will continue to apply for these forgivable loans each year in March as a part of a five-part plan. Then, around the time part four is being completed, the city will create another five-part plan to submit, he said at the time.
“As long as this funding is available, we’re going to try to get it,” Hoffmann said.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
