$15 million loan to help Chicago replace aging pipelines

The city of Chicago is getting a $15 million low-interest loan to help replace aging drinking-water mains and pipes.

Gov. Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Wednesday that Chicago will receive the loan from the state’s $1 billion Illinois Clean Water Initiative. That program helps local governments overhaul aging water and sewer plants and replace outdated pipelines.

Chicago will use the money to replace about seven miles of drinking water pipes, some of which are more than 100 years old. Frequent water-main ruptures have caused water outages, basement flooding and even a sinkhole that an SUV fell into in 2011.

Officials say Chicago’s project will support hundreds of jobs. Emanuel says the city has a goal of replacing 88 miles of water mains each year for the next decade.