City of Joliet Alternative Water Supply Program

More than 385,000 people in the Joliet, Illinois area will need access to a new, reliable source of water by 2030 to replace the city’s failing current sources. After we supported initial alternative source screening and evaluation efforts, the City retained us to lead a team of consultants in the final evaluation of two water source alternatives which resulted in the choice of Lake Michigan via the City of Chicago.

As the program manager and prime design consultant for the preliminary engineering phase, we led a comprehensive program of development, engineering, coordination, financing, and outreach efforts to prepare for bringing in a new reliable supply of water from the lake.

Our team has achieved milestones that include negotiation of a preliminary water supply agreement with the City of Chicago, receipt of water allocation permits, substantial infrastructure funding, and state legislation updating elements of the statutes governing the creation and operation of water commissions in Illinois. We also helped obtain approval for up to $700 million of funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program.