The city of Kewanee will install new water service lines to 400 local homes, thanks to a state program.
The goal is to replace lead water lines that connect homes to the water mains.
The service lines are considered the property of the homeowner, who ordinarily has to pay for replacing the lines. But Chris Berry, Kewanee’s public works director, said Kewanee has received a low-interest loan from the state that will pay for the lead-free service lines.
Of the $4 million loan, $2.4 million is forgivable, Berry said. The city will have to pay back the remaining $1.6 million, over 30 years at low interest.
Berry said the engineering firm of Crawford, Murphy and Tilly (CMT) will handle the project. Their work will include selecting the recipients of the free service lines.
He said preference will be given to homes with children.
The agreement with the engineering firm calls for the city to pay up to $63,000 for the engineering work. Any fees over that amount would have to be approved by another City Council action.
The council at its meeting Monday approved hiring CMT`for the job.
They also approved a contract with CMT for their services on a project intended to reduce the chloride levels in the discharge from the wastewater treatment plant.
The chloride level in Kewanee is high because the city’s wells tap into an aquifer that’s more than 2,000 feet underground.
The plan is to drill two shallower wells near the Madison Avenue water plant, and use that low-chloride water to dilute the water that’s discharged from the treatment plant so that the chloride levels are acceptable. CMT’s fees for the work are not to exceed $60,000.
Also approved by the council Monday was an agreement with Hutchison Engineering, which is in charge of the downtown renewal project.
The agreement calls for paying the firm just under $300,000 to oversee work on the downtown renewal project. That project will include street resurfacing, sidewalk and parking-area reconstruction, new lighting and other work along Main Street from First to Third streets, the 100 block of West Second Street and the 200 block of North Tremont Street.
Work on that project is to begin this month, and wrap up next summer.
