La Grange Sees 'Overwhelming' Job On Lead Service Lines

LA GRANGE, IL – As an old town, La Grange is seeing a big job ahead in replacing lead service lines, which is a federal mandate.

Two-thirds of the village's water service lines contain lead.

The average homeowner's cost for replacing such a line is $7,000 to $9,000, civil engineer Kaitlin Wright of Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers told the Village Board on Monday.

And those costs are likely to rise when the whole country is demanding the same work in a couple of years, she said.

"There's a lot of concern that there aren't enough contractors to do this work in the state," Wright said. "Do you know anyone who is looking to be a plumber? I would encourage them to do so. There is job security."

At the lowest part of the range, La Grange residents would have to come up with $23.4 million to change out their own lines. That's not even including the village's part of the lines.

In July 2024, Wright told the board the overall cost was expected to reach $67.5 million for La Grange, totaling the residents' and the village's portions.

In an email to Patch on Tuesday, she said that the number includes engineering, permitting, general inflation and contingencies such as for assumed cost hikes due to overall demand.

After her presentation, Village President Mark Kuchler called it "informative," but "somewhat depressing."

"Some of those numbers are a little overwhelming to say the least," he said.

She responded, "I am never the bearer of good news."

Kuchler said the village was searching for grants.

Newer towns have little worry about lead service lines.

In 2021, La Grange's longtime public works director, Ryan Gillingham, left for the same job in McKinney, Texas, a quickly growing Dallas suburb of nearly 200,000.

Nearly all of its growth has occurred since 1990, after national lead bans took effect.

According to McKinney's website, it has removed all known lead lines.