Latest news with #DepartmentofWaterManagement
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Construction begins on project to supply Lake Michigan water to southwest suburbs
CHICAGO — Construction is set to begin on a project to supply Lake Michigan water to the far southwest suburbs. This project was first started in 2018 when the Illinois State Water Survey came out, showing that the well water that many of the southwest suburbs rely on would not be enough for the future. This is going be a 60-mile pipeline that connects the Chicago water supply to six cities and villages, which include Joliet, Crest Hill, Channahon, Minooka, Romeoville and Shorewood. The cost of the project is about $1.44 billion. While Congress has allocated a few million dollars in grants for its construction so far, a bulk of this money is going to be coming from low interest loans from the government, as well as bonds being issued by the Grand Prairie Water Commission, which was formed by the six communities. 'Projects like this one are not just about modernizing aging water infrastructure. It's an investment in our families, business, economy and future. It's an investment that pays off,' said US Rep. Lauren Underwood. 'For the first time in over three decades, we are establishing a direct connection of new water costumers which will provide six more cities with fresh, high quality drinking water,' said Randy Conner, the Commissioner of the Department of Water Management for the City of Chicago. This project is expected to take about five years. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Daywatch: The cost to fix Chicago's water mains
Good morning, Chicago. Scores of water mains throughout Chicago are too close to sewer lines, according to a new report that cautions the potential risks to public health could cost taxpayers millions of dollars to fix. In a six-page letter released yesterday, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg slammed the Department of Water Management for failing to ensure contractors complied with state and city regulations intended to prevent human and industrial waste from tainting drinking water. Witzburg said experts told her investigators that the level of pressure maintained in underground water mains likely thwarted any contamination. But she urged the city to improve its communication with Chicagoans, in particular when sections of the system malfunction and boil orders are issued. Read the full story from the Tribune's Michael Hawthorne. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History While Gov. JB Pritzker delivered a no-new-taxes, belt-tightening spending proposal for Illinois, the prospective presidential contender spoke to a larger, national audience by likening the actions of President Donald Trump and his followers to the rise of Nazism in 1930s Germany. Painting a brighter picture of the state's finances than his administration had last year, when a $3.2 billion budget hole was said to loom, Pritzker's $55.2 billion plan for the year beginning July 1 includes required funding increases for schools and pension contributions. But the proposal keeps spending flat in most other areas, including programs favored by the second-term Democrat and his allies in the General Assembly. American Airlines is planning to boost flying capacity out of O'Hare International Airport this year, marking a departure from the airline's pullback at its Chicago hub in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The carrier will fly to nine new domestic and international cities from Chicago in 2025 and use larger planes, American announced Thursday. Indiana House legislators gave initial approval to a bill aimed at redrawing the Indiana-Illinois border Wednesday, but the bill continues to open up a Pandora's box of amendments — from marijuana legalization to allowing Indiana counties to secede. Bill that places restrictions on Medicaid advances to Indiana House Indiana House passes ban on transgender women participating in women's college sports After years of litigation, Endeavor Health has settled the last batch of pending lawsuits filed by patients who allege they were sexually abused by former obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Fabio Ortega – bringing the total number of lawsuits the health system has settled over the matter to more than 75. Read the investigation on sexual abuse by providers The AIDS Foundation Chicago and two other nonprofits filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his administration, challenging executive orders related to diversity, equity and gender. The AIDS Foundation Chicago, the National Urban League and the National Fair Housing Alliance filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking to halt three recent executive orders. After spending nearly six years in six courts, the legal battle between the Forest County Potawatomi Community of Wisconsin and the city of Waukegan is likely over after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit put an end to the last pending case. Chicago Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga is excited about his first opening-day start, made more special by the fact it's at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. Former Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. is trying to create something positive out of the school's upside-down banner mishap over the weekend. As if Chicago didn't have enough problems. Here comes Godzilla, as in Gojira, the Big G, Tokyo's Own. Apple has released a sleeker and more expensive version of its lowest priced iPhone in an attempt to widen the audience for a bundle of artificial intelligence technology that the company has been hoping will revive demand for its most profitable product lineup. The iPhone 16e unveiled yesterday is the fourth-generation of a model that's sold at a dramatically lower price than the iPhone's standard and premium models. Chicago first embraced this Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice irreverent Biblical creation with the help of some 500 performances from a bare-chested Donny Osmond back in the mid-1990s. Any show that was so successful for so long in downtown Chicago that an Osmond was persuaded to move himself and his family to Wilmette is a piece of theater that deserves respect, writes Tribune theater critic Chris Jones.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fixing water mains installed too close to sewer lines could cost Chicago millions, IG report says
Scores of water mains throughout Chicago are too close to sewer lines, according to a new report that cautions the potential risks to public health could cost taxpayers millions of dollars to fix. In a six-page letter released Wednesday, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg slammed the Department of Water Management for failing to ensure contractors complied with state and city regulations intended to prevent human and industrial waste from tainting drinking water. Witzburg said experts told her investigators that the level of pressure maintained in underground water mains likely thwarted any contamination. But she urged the city to improve its communication with Chicagoans, in particular when sections of the system malfunction and boil orders are issued. 'Parts of the city's network of water mains have lost full pressurization multiple times in recent years, raising the specter that structural protections against a contamination event might fail,' Witzburg wrote in a December letter to Randy Conner, the city's water commissioner. One example cited by the inspector general involved a July leak inside the century-old Roseland Pumping Station that prompted a boil order for the Auburn Gresham, Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods. The water department took six hours to warn residents after water pressure began to drop, the inspector general noted. Water and sewer lines are supposed to be at least 10 feet apart. Yet in more than 1,200 spots in the city, including multiple blocks on some streets, work performed by water department contractors failed to comply with state and local health regulations, according to the inspector general's report. As of May 2024, the city had spent nearly $10 million fixing the problems. Water department officials have attempted to force the contractors to pay for alleged mistakes, a potential solution disputed in lawsuits the contractors filed in Cook County Court. One of the contractors contends its share alone could cost $83 million. City officials borrowed more than $400 million during the past decade to replace leaky water mains. An unnamed water department official told the inspector general there was little, if any, oversight of how the work was conducted. In a reply this month to Witzburg, Conner said there are no threats to public health because the city constantly monitors water pressure and promptly detects leaks. 'These extensive … monitoring and operational steps protect Chicago's drinking water from health and safety risks,' Conner wrote. Left unaddressed by the inspector general's report is the fact that hundreds of miles of new water mains were attached to service lines made of brain-damaging lead. Chicago has more than 400,000 of the toxic pipes, by far the most of any U.S. city. Local plumbing codes required the use of lead to convey drinking water into homes until Congress banned the practice in 1986. Regulations adopted by former President Joe Biden's administration require every one of the city's lead service lines to be replaced within two decades, an initiative that will cost billions more than the water main replacement program and the fixes required under health regulations.
Chicago Tribune
20-02-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Fixing water mains installed too close to sewer lines could cost Chicago millions, IG report says
Scores of water mains throughout Chicago are too close to sewer lines, according to a new report that cautions the potential risks to public health could cost taxpayers millions of dollars to fix. In a six-page letter released Wednesday, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg slammed the Department of Water Management for failing to ensure contractors complied with state and city regulations intended to prevent human and industrial waste from tainting drinking water. Witzburg said experts told her investigators that the level of pressure maintained in underground water mains likely thwarted any contamination. But she urged the city to improve its communication with Chicagoans, in particular when sections of the system malfunction and boil orders are issued. 'Parts of the city's network of water mains have lost full pressurization multiple times in recent years, raising the specter that structural protections against a contamination event might fail,' Witzburg wrote in a December letter to Randy Conner, the city's water commissioner. One example cited by the inspector general involved a July leak inside the century-old Roseland Pumping Station that prompted a boil order for the Auburn Gresham, Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods. The water department took six hours to warn residents after water pressure began to drop, the inspector general noted. Water and sewer lines are supposed to be at least 10 feet apart. Yet in more than 1,200 spots in the city, including multiple blocks on some streets, work performed by water department contractors failed to comply with state and local health regulations, according to the inspector general's report. As of May 2024, the city had spent nearly $10 million fixing the problems. Water department officials have attempted to force the contractors to pay for alleged mistakes, a potential solution disputed in lawsuits the contractors filed in Cook County Court. One of the contractors contends its share alone could cost $83 million. City officials borrowed more than $400 million during the past decade to replace leaky water mains. An unnamed water department official told the inspector general there was little, if any, oversight of how the work was conducted. In a reply this month to Witzburg, Conner said there are no threats to public health because the city constantly monitors water pressure and promptly detects leaks. 'These extensive … monitoring and operational steps protect Chicago's drinking water from health and safety risks,' Conner wrote. Left unaddressed by the inspector general's report is the fact that hundreds of miles of new water mains were attached to service lines made of brain-damaging lead. Chicago has more than 400,000 of the toxic pipes, by far the most of any U.S. city. Local plumbing codes required the use of lead to convey drinking water into homes until Congress banned the practice in 1986. Regulations adopted by former President Joe Biden's administration require every one of the city's lead service lines to be replaced within two decades, an initiative that will cost billions more than the water main replacement program and the fixes required under health regulations.
