A $400 million, 30-mile-long pipeline planned to bring water from Lake Michigan to the communities of Montgomery, Oswego and Yorkville, Illinois, in Chicago’s west-end suburbs, is under construction.
The WaterLink project, which officially broke ground June 10, is expected to provide drinking water to about 90,000 residents, expand the Lake Michigan water service region and replace reliance on a depleting aquifer.
Burns & McDonnell is providing program management and construction observation on behalf of the pipeline owner/operator, the DuPage Water Commission, supporting 12 contract packages in various counties and jurisdictions. The project uses a Design-Bid-Build delivery method across all packages, resulting in smaller segments being individually competitively bid and built by general contractors.
The project is the result of nearly a decade of studying future water needs during which the communities determined that their current water source, the Ironton-Galesville Deep Sandstone Aquifer, will not be able to meet projected demand as early as 2050.
“WaterLink includes transmission mains up to 54 inches routed through established communities, ComEd rights-of-way and major highways, railroads, utilities and river crossings. Eleven of the 30 main transmission miles are routed to ComEd utility easements, reducing project costs, schedule and construction impact on communities,” says Paul May, director general of the water commission.
“WaterLink brings together the technical complexity and community purpose that define critical infrastructure,” adds Joe Darlington, WaterLink program manager at Burns & McDonnell, noting that the project will require coordination with many stakeholders.
In 2021, after a technical, financial and environmental analysis, the municipalities formally partnered to seek a new water source and identified Lake Michigan water delivered through the water commission as the new source.
Burns & McDonnell says the project includes multiple municipal delivery points and requires complex infrastructure work spanning residential neighborhoods, roads and utility easements. Construction began in December 2025 and will continue through 2028, paid for by a combination of federal loans and local funding.
The main one begins in the western suburb of Naperville, Illinois and runs west across major highways and the Fox River before reaching destination communities. The project is expected to continue until 2028.
Other contractors involved in the project include: Arcadis, Bowman Consulting Group, Christopher B. Burke Engineering, LAN (Lockwood, Andrews & Newman), Robinson Engineering, Stanley Consultants, Benchmark Construction Co., Airy’s Inc. and Water Well Solutions Illinois Division.
