Fawell Dam an issue in Warrenville race

Before Warrenville can fully address its flooding problems, candidates in the city council race say a long-suspected culprit first must be ruled out.

“We've always been concerned about Fawell Dam,” said Alderman Dan Leonard, who is trying to keep his Ward 3 seat against challenger Barbara Thornbury.

To date, there hasn't been any conclusive evidence that the dam along the DuPage River's west branch in the McDowell Grove Forest Preserve near Naperville is responsible for flooding just upstream.

Still, Warrenville has hired a consultant to do an analysis of what would happen to flood elevations in the city if gates at the dam are left open. The results are expected to be released in the coming months.

While the flooding issues in Warrenville are “complex,” Ward 4 Alderman David Kratz said the city needs to confirm whether DuPage County is operating Fawell Dam properly.

“You can tell that if the top of the dam is at a certain level, water is going to back up into Warrenville,” said Kratz, who is seeking to retain his seat against newcomer Leah Goodman. “There's no doubt about that.”

Of course, Thornbury said she's ready to accept the possibility that other factors — including increased construction upstream and the development of the Cantera area — contributed to the flooding issues.

“I think people forget that we had flooding in the past before the dam,” Thornbury said. “But we also had a very large quarry that water could go to that we have now filled in. You cover anything in asphalt and the water has to go somewhere.”

Leonard said one factor the city has identified is that bridges at Williams, Warrenville and Butterfield roads can sometimes impede the flow of river water.

“Because of the debris that's in the river, it collects at every one of those bridges and the water backs up,” he said. “Once that starts, it only magnifies the issues.”

Warrenville is planning to replace the Williams Road bridge within three years, Leonard said. And the bridge along Butterfield is expected to be rebuilt when that road is widened.

When it comes to the Warrenville Road bridge, city officials are hopeful that it will be rebuilt by the county sometime in the future.

Meanwhile, a recently approved update to the county's watershed plan for the DuPage River's west branch has identified a list of projects that could address flooding in Warrenville.

As result, Kratz said the most important thing Warrenville can do is work cooperatively with DuPage to make those projects become a reality.

“The county has a lot more funds to do these things,” Kratz said. “It must be a partnership. There's no way that we could take this on ourselves and do all of it.”