Carpentersville will have to ante up $248,000 for the engineering work needed to move the water and sewer lines left exposed in the Fox River after a dam was removed last spring by the Forest Preserve District of Kane County.
But village officials are also wondering whether there is any liability involved and if organizations or agencies involved in the decision to take the barrier out should help pay for the estimated $3.5 million to $4.5 million cost of the line relocation work.
“Do the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers or Friends of the Fox have any obligation … since they were so gung ho in getting rid of the dam?” Trustee John Frost said at this week’s Carpentersville Village Board meeting.
“There has been a lot of investigation,” Village Manager Brad Stewart said. To date, “we have not clearly identified a party that would have an exposure, but we will continue to look at that as we look at potential funding,” he said.
The dam was owned and maintained by the forest preserve district and, at the recommendation of the Army Corps and other groups, the dam removed in December 2024 at a cost of about $1.4 million. The action was taken because of the environmental health benefits to the river’s ecosystem.
When the water level dropped as a result, two village water mains and two sanitary force mains were uncovered.
More Top Picks Dji Mavic Mini
According to a report by HR Green, which was hired by the village to do the engineering work needed to relocate the lines, the dam removal resulted in low riverflow conditions and minimal cover of the mains. Located 1,900 feet upstream from the dam, the lines weren’t buried deep enough in the riverbed, officials said.
Carpentersville stabilized them by covering them with gravel. They did not leak and are “functionally protected,” according to engineers.
One funding source considered to pay for the engineering and relocation work was Kane County’s Grand Victoria Riverboat fund, Stewart said, but county officials “informed us it was unlikely.”
The village board approved the contract with HR Green at its Tuesday meeting, with money coming from the village’s Enterprise Fund. Village officials continue to look for other funding sources to cover the much-larger remaining expense.
Friends of the Fox advocated to have the Carpentersville dam removed and the forest preserve district worked with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to take it out.
The Army Corps in 2023 recommended that nine dams along the Fox River be removed, including Elgin’s Kimball Street dam. It did not include the Carpentersville dam because plans were already in place to remove it.
Since then, the idea has become controversial and the pros and cons debated. Elgin relies on the river as a drinking water source, and there are concerns the lowered water level will adversely affect the city’s intake system and require its relocation. No decision on removing the dam has been made by the city or the U.S. Army Corps.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.