Drainage Improvement



Elk Grove Village residents are known for taking pride and working hard to keep their yards attractive and clean, which has helped beautify the neighborhoods throughout the Village. The Residential Drainage Improvement Program was created to help residents solve rear yard drainage problems in order to keep their drainage swales functioning properly, and their properties and neighborhoods looking their best.

Over the years, some residents have improperly filled their rear yards and drainage easements with dirt, trees, shrubs, gardens, ponds, sheds, garages and other obstructions which block the drainage route for storm water. The drainage easements were intended to remain open to allow storm water to drain through the rear yards of the neighborhoods to a designated Village storm sewer. The Drainage Improvement Program can assist residential single-family property owners in reviewing if drainage easements in their rear yards are functioning properly.

If you feel you have a storm water drainage problem, please contact the Engineering Division of the Department of Engineering and Community Development at (847) 357-4220 to set up an inspection of your property. The purpose of the inspection is to gather information to help determine what level of assistance the Village can provide to resolve your drainage concerns.

For a residential single-family property owner to be eligible for Village assistance in constructing drainage improvements, the property must conform to ALL of the following criteria:

1.	Standing water must remain in the drainage easement for more than forty-eight (48) hours after the end of a rain storm.

2.	The standing water problem can't be solved by conventional methods such as regrading portions of the rear yard or rear yard swale to provide positive pitch, or removing objects that are blocking the flow of storm water.

3.	The standing water problem must affect four (4) or more contiguous lots and the nearest available storm sewer must be two (2) or more lots away from the properties.

4.	The standing water problem is not caused by sump pump discharge lines or downspouts.

In addition to the above criteria, the Village's evaluation of an area also includes a review of the intensity and duration of the rainfall event occurring just prior to the inspection, weather conditions immediately after the rainfall event, and a review of the condition of the grass cover on the properties involved. Dead or thin grass, mud and bare areas are indicative of a verifiable drainage problem. Full thick grass cover is not indicative of a substantial problem but only of an intermittent problem.

If it is determined that the standing water issue does not meet the criteria for Village funding of underground improvements, the Village will provide technical assistance to the homeowner(s) so that the problem can be corrected individually.

If it is determined that the standing water issue does meet the criteria for Village funding of improvements, the Village will design and construct a storm sewer improvement. The construction will include the installation of storm sewer/underdrain, sewer inlets, and restoration of the drainage easement with topsoil and sod. The homeowner will be required to water the sod after installation.

Any obstructions in the easement such as shrubs, plantings, sheds, swing sets, landscape features, etc. must be removed by the homeowner(s) prior to the start of construction and cannot be reinstalled in the easement. The Village will remove and replace existing fences as part of the project.