Project in the pipeline

The water system serving much of the Southland could be getting a massive overhaul if officials in Oak Lawn can secure millions in funding under the federal stimulus plan.

Local officials say the estimated $193 million project would update and greatly expand an antiquated water system that now snakes through 257 miles of pipe, affecting about 100,000 hookups.

Oak Lawn buys Lake Michigan water from Chicago and distributes it to a dozen south suburbs stretching from Chicago Ridge to Matteson.

Many of those communities have thrown support behind the proposed six-year project, either informally or through votes at board meetings, provided Oak Lawn secures the cash.

“Generally, there’s a fairly majority consensus that some of these (improvements) need to be done,” Mokena village administrator John Downs said.

If Oak Lawn can’t get enough federal money to pay for the entire project, it would expect the communities it supplies with water to chip in for the remainder.

Calling the overhaul “absolutely critical for our long-term viability,” Olympia Fields mayor Linzey Jones said his town would “pay our part to support it.”

Oak Lawn officials remain confident they’ll get the funding because the project is important for several reasons: it covers a lot of geography, affects about 300,000 people, would reduce energy and would improve the quality and safety of a critical public resource.

“I couldn’t think of a more relevant project,” said Oak Lawn Village Manager Larry Deetjen. “Where the rubber meets the road is how you finance the plan and how do you finance it fairly.”

Ri ght now, the overhaul largely depends on the lobbying efforts of Oak Lawn’s lobbying firm, Alcalde and Fay, a group Deetjen said was pitching the project to federal official before the stimulus package was even discussed in Washington.

The majority of costs – an estimated $170 million – would go to the installation of a new, higher capacity main looping all the communities together.

The line would back up the existing main on Central Avenue, reducing the risk of water shortages in surrounding communities in case of a breach or break in the main line. And at nearly twice the diameter of the old line, it would be able to carry much more water.

The added line would also accommodate future growth in the area, free up capacity in the existing main – which would still be used – and ultimately save energy because it would lessen the amount of pressure needed to push water through the lines, officials with the engineering firm Camp, Dresser and McKee said.

Installation of the new main would be broken into two phases, with the first part affecting the northern part of the supply chain and the second affecting the southern portion, including Matteson, Country Club Hills and Olympia Fields.

The project also would include multiple upgrades for backups, safety and maintenance, mostly at Oak Lawn’s Reich and Harker pump stations.

The engineering firm estimates the project could be accomplished by 2015, with 18 of the 43 proposed fixes and upgrades slated to begin this year.

If local communities are asked to help fund the project, the amount they pay would coincide with how much water they use. Camp, Dresser and McKee has already begun a study to determine water usage under the new system.

The results are expected to produce some “give and take” between the communities Oak Lawn supplies with water, Deetjen said.

“We will fine tune that until we meet a consensus,” he said. “Oak Lawn is not going to dictate anything. That’s the only way it should go.”

For now, Southland leaders are playing the waiting game while Congress debates the merits of the federal stimulus package.

Without federal funding, Oak Lawn expects the overhaul would take much longer. All the while local residents would have to deal with an outdated water system that won’t be able to support the inevitable growth throughout the area.

“There’s only so much water you can push through the pipes,” he said.

SouthtownStar graphic by Chad Merda