Lake Zurich takes $52 million step to bring Lake Michigan water to town

The target for Lake Michigan water to flow through taps in Lake Zurich is late 2028 but the nuts and bolts of the $154 million project are taking shape.

Village officials last week authorized revenue bond issues of $42 million and $10 million to secure low-interest loans from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency as part of the transition to Lake Michigan water.

The first loan is in the application process and expected to be submitted to the IEPA in coming months. The first phase of that work involves a reservoir and receiving station in the village with construction expected to begin near the year end.

The second loan will be for distribution improvements to the village water system and is expected to be submitted to the IEPA in 2027.

Both will be covered by revenues from the water and sewer fund. The village board in December 2023 approved graduated rate increases to help cover costs.

Village officials also enacted a local sales tax increase of 0.5% to help defray scheduled rate increases associated with the switch to Lake Michigan water.

Three other IEPA loans are to be secured through the Lake County Joint Action Water Agency, the water supplier. Those funds will cover the rest of the work including seven miles of 24-inch water transmission main from Vernon Hills and a pump station in Mundelein.

Contractors have been invited to an open house Wednesday at the Lake Zurich public works facility to learn more about the project and CLCJAWA.

That meeting is an introduction to potential future bidders of what will be involved in the project, scheduled to be complete in mid-2028 with testing and startup to follow.

“It’s coming. If you have interest in putting future bids in that’s what this is all about,” said Mike Brown, public works director.

After years of consideration and studies, in what were considered historic actions, the village board in March 2024 joined CLCJAWA and approved a route study to determine the best way to get it to town.

Surveys of the route have been done to identify wetlands, tree, soil conditions, utility conflicts and other details, said Bill Soucie, the agency’s executive director.

That ongoing study focuses on refining the pipeline, outreach with communities the pipe will travel through and an overview of any challenges that surface during the design stage, Brown said.

Public meetings as well as those held with the public, municipal stakeholders and property owners have helped shape the pipeline design and location, he added.

The agency also bought an acre on Route 83 in Mundelein to house a brick pump station to help push Lake Michigan water uphill to Lake Zurich. The design is nearly complete and under review by the IEPA, Soucie said.

Though the targeted completion is still years away, “we are pushing hard to keep this project moving forward and on-track,” he added.

The Lake Bluff-based agency became operational in 1992 and now delivers Lake Michigan water to nearly two dozen communities and unincorporated areas. Wauconda and Volo were the most recent communities to sign on and began receiving Lake Michigan water in 2019.