Lake Zurich paying up to $3.3 million for sewage line work
Lake Zurich village board trustees have agreed to set aside about $3.3 million - more than initially planned - for additional repairs to a sanitary sewer line that sends wastewater to a treatment plant near Buffalo Grove.
Village board members in February approved a $2.7 million contract with Michels Pipe Service of Brownsville, Wisconsin, for repairs to the Lake Zurich sewage transmission line running under the Twin Orchard Country Club golf course on Old McHenry Road in Long Grove.
However, a camera transmitted images that Lake Zurich Public Works Manager Michael Brown said showed work also is needed on a 1,700-foot section of line running east of Twin Orchard across Route 83 and to the north side of Aptakisic Road in Long Grove. He said the images showed concrete caving in the line and other problems.
By a 6-0 vote Monday night, the village board authorized paying a maximum of roughly $3.3 million to Michels Pipe Service to include the extra work. Trustee Marc Spacone said the increased payment to the company is justified because the village would risk a costlier bill for the transmission line work down the road.
"I know this is a tremendous infrastructural issue that we need to deal with," Spacone said. "And, just to remind people, we've got a lot of infrastructure (repairs) coming in the next couple of years that we need to look at. It's a big investment in the future of the community and what we have going on. Spend it now or we spend potentially two, three times the amount in the future in an emergency."
Michels Pipe Service will install new lining in the 1,700-foot section. Lake Zurich's contract with the company includes expenses for traffic control at Route 83 and Aptakisic when the work there starts.
Lake Zurich's sewage works its way from the village, under Kildeer and Long Grove, to a Lake County-operated treatment plant near Buffalo Grove. The village is responsible for expenses associated with its sewage line, officials said.
Brown said Lake Zurich late last year paid slightly less than $1 million for emergency repairs to a section of sanitary sewer line on East Cuba Road in Long Grove, near Twin Orchard Country Club.