Welcome to Tri-Cities Central, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting local happenings in Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and surrounding communities.
Get yours: subscribe here. Refer a friend: share this link.
In 2020, Batavia identified more than 1,200 lead or galvanized water service lines that needed to be replaced.
Six years later, not only has the city replaced 943 of them, but it expects to finish the rest by 2027, which is the same year the EPA requires other public water systems to start the program. A presentation from a project engineer at Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting provided more details.
Here's what to know:
Where things stand: The city has completed 943 replacements across three program years, with roughly 200 remaining under the ongoing Year 3 program. The work has covered nearly seven miles of service line citywide at no direct cost to homeowners.
How it was funded: The city secured just under $14 million across three rounds of Illinois EPA funding. Several officials noted that nearby communities are already asking the EPA to push back the 2027 deadline because they aren't ready, and that contractor prices have risen sharply as more communities compete for the same work.
A tangible result for residents: Because the city hit two consecutive testing periods with clean results, the EPA reduced Batavia's required sampling from 60 tests every six months to testing every three years instead.
As is often the case, Mayor Schielke added some historical context. On January 10, 1893, he said a furnace spark set fire to a three-story Batavia school. The city had no water system and no firefighting equipment. Every child got out safely, but the building burned to the ground, and the disaster is what prompted residents to vote to build a municipal water system.
Watch the full committee meeting recording.
📖 Thanks for reading
Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] with questions or comments.
Not signed up yet? Subscribe here.