Cost-cutting options presented as water vote nears

Panel worries cost will turn off potential users

By Julie Ann Marra

Posted: Oct. 19, 2009 |(0) Comments

In an effort to make municipal water more affordable to the system's initial users, the Elm Grove Water Committee is recommending eliminating some pipe and reducing pipe sizes on the proposed first loop.

"This (project) has gotten very expensive since we first started," committee member Bruce Davidson said. "If we want to have a chance of this thing happening, we've got to pull as much cost out of it as feasible."

The municipal water project would bring water from the city of Brookfield to Elm Grove down Legion Drive and create a loop around the downtown area. The Caroline Heights neighborhood and a small loop including part of Dunwoody Drive and Bobby Lane have been recommended for inclusion as well.

The project will move forward only if enough prospective recipients agree to pay the assessment for the work. It is estimated that the average residential user could be charged up to $7,753 to support the $7.35 million project.

That price might simply be too steep for the potential users, some worried. The panel moved two proposals to the Village Board for consideration: the proposal as it has been considered already and a version that is redesigned to reduce the cost. The committee is putting its backing behind the lower-cost option.

Cutting capacity an option

That second option will incorporate committee member Richard Reinders' suggestion to reduce pipe sizes in the Dunwoody Drive/Bobby Lane loop and remove the 12-inch pipe along 124th Street.

Project engineer Daniel Butler said removing the 124th Street pipe would create dead ends in the system instead of having water flow in a loop. Drawbacks could include an increased need for flushing and maintenance to deal with sediment deposits and larger service outages in the event of a main break. Should a main break, any dead-end pipes downstream from the break also would be without water.

Removing the 124th Street pipe also would result in seven residential properties being excluded from the service area.

The pipe to be installed will have a long life, Village Manager Dave De Angelis said, predicting that a break would happen during the first 25 years of the pipe's life only if something physically hit it.

Other savings may be on way

Regardless of which plan the Village Board supports, the project cost could still be further reduced.

For instance, running pipe under railroad tracks is expensive. If the pipes are installed after Pacific Rail removes one of its lines in 2011, the water project's cost will decrease because the pipes would have to pass through two fewer crossings, De Angelis said.

Eliminating the 124th Street pipe from the plans would remove a third rail crossing from the project, bringing the cost down even more.

De Angelis estimated it would save about $56,000 if two rail crossing were eliminated from the water plan.

Further cost savings could be realized if the city of Brookfield agrees to pay the difference between installing a 12-inch main and a 16-inch main in Legion Drive. The city wants the larger pipe, which already is included in the project cost estimate, so it can get water to the southern portion of its community. De Angelis said no formal agreement has been signed yet.

Users also could benefit financially if the project stays on budget. The $7.35 million project cost estimate includes a 30 percent contingency fund. If that money is not used, residents would be charged a lesser assessment due to the lesser project cost.