Residents served by the Southeast Joliet Sanitary District will not have to annex into the city of Joliet because Joliet is taking over the operation of the district’s water and sewer services.

That is just one of the things district residents attending an outreach meeting Nov. 15 at St. John Missionary Baptist Church learned about the transition. A second outreach meeting will be at 6 p.m. Nov. 18 at the church, located at 104 E. Zarley Blvd. in Joliet.

The official transfer of the district to the city of Joliet will take place Feb. 1. More than 850 households are served by the district, which covers an area of Joliet Township south of the city and on both sides of Illinois Route 53.

The Southeast Joliet Sanitary District Board had determined the district should be dissolved, in part because it was unable to provide needed infrastructure improvements and may soon be unable to continue to guarantee the continued, efficient, stable delivery of safe drinking water to its residents.

Upgrading the system will cost about $15 million. Federal grants will help pay for the project’s costs.

Having Joliet take over district also should reduce the amount of system disruptions.

Will County Land Use Department Community Planner Nicholas Hernandez noted it is an aging system.

“The older it gets, the more likely it is for disruptions, which kind of exemplifies the need for a transfer to an entity that is more capable of handling those issues.”

Starting Feb. 1, the city will be responsible for any water main repairs, ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation of the system.

Residents at the meeting also learned their existing water meters will be replaced with new Sensus meters that work with the city’s billing system. Until their meters are replaced, residential water customers will receive a flat rate bill of $65 per month.

Once the meters are replaced, they will pay the city’s nonresident water and sewer rates.

Joliet taking over the operation of the district is not without precedent. In 2019, the city agreed to take over the water and sewer system serving the unincorporated Fairmont area. Lockport Township had managed the system, which had been in need of improvements after being built in the 1970s.

“In Fairmont, it was a very similar situation to what is happening here,” said Marsha Sojka, community development division director for the Will County Land Use Department.

The improvements also will help the area attract new businesses, residents were told.

“You have to have good infrastructure in place,” Sojka said. “Businesses are not going to come to a community if it doesn’t have a sustainable water option.”

Information about the transfer is available at joliet.gov/government/departments/public-utilities/news-information/south-east-joliet-sanitary-district.