Beneath the daycare at Howard Mohr Community Center on Jackson Boulevard, there sits a million-gallon concrete reservoir. Along with a 350,000-gallon reservoir on Hannah Avenue, the Jackson Boulevard reservoir holds potable water that village locals use daily.
The underground Jackson Boulevard reservoir, constructed in the 1960s, has an estimated 75-year-long lifespan that is nearing its end. The reservoir’s deterioration poses the question of whether to restore the existing reservoir or demolish it and build a new one.
The issue, however, is not a matter of simple construction. It is an expensive project that could temporarily limit the amount of drinking water available in the reservoirs — an amount that already falls short of Illinois EPA guidelines.
To be clear, there are no water shortages. But last October, the village hired structural engineering firm J.V. Henik, Inc. to drain the reservoir and perform a structural analysis. J.V. Henick reported that although the reservoir’s ceiling was deteriorated, the walls, floors and support columns were only minorly deteriorated.
At the end of November, emergency, temporary buttresses were installed to hold up the ceiling, and the village restricted access to the Howard Mohr Community Center’s outdoor playground above the reservoir. Monitoring devices, to be checked every six months, were installed on the reservoir’s ceiling to track its movement. Additionally, the village tests the reservoirs’ water monthly for bacteria, E. coli and chemicals, and every three months, for cancer-causing agents.
Rehabbing the Jackson Boulevard reservoir would make it last another 25 years and cost around $3 million to repair. Rosemont-based Christopher B. Burke Engineering would design the updates this year and start construction at the end of the year or the start of 2025.
If the village chooses to renovate the reservoir, it would be unable to hold water for at least a year, and more water would be pumped into the Hannah Avenue reservoir — though it might not be quite enough.
“The villagers would just have to be cautious, in case there was ever a fire or major water main break,” said Sal Stella, director of public works. “They would only have so much water in storage, compared to when both [reservoirs] are up and running.”
A reservoir renovation would also fall short of the Illinois EPA recommendation for communities to store double the amount of water used daily, which is around 1.5 million gallons.
“We are just shy of that by 700,000 gallons,” Stella said. “It would be in the best interest for the village to do that one day. It’s not an emergency,” he added, but “if we build new, the option’s there to take advantage of doubling our storage for the village.”
If the village chooses to build a reservoir and pump station at a new location, it would likely take the form of two above-ground, million-gallon reservoirs. These would last 75 years and cost about $10 million, which includes the cost of demolishing the current Jackson Boulevard reservoir. Design efforts would occur this year with construction taking place from 2025 to 2028.
Christopher B. Burke Engineering suggested two potential locations for new reservoirs: the Altenheim and the CTA Blue Line parking lot. They chose these spots because they are the largest plots of land owned by the village that also have easy access to the water main on Jackson Avenue, which carries water from the City of Chicago.
A reservoir rehab would likely be funded locally, while new reservoirs could be paid for by a low-interest loan from the state EPA, which Stella said doesn’t offer loans for renovating current infrastructure.
“When you’re going to update your reservoir and pump station, that’s showing the EPA that you’re building new, and you’re going to be up to standards and new technologies that’ll benefit, not only the community, but the village and the EPA.”
At a Feb. 12 village council meeting, Mayor Rory Hoskins mentioned the possibility of getting funding from the Water Resources Development Act. It is not clear how the act, which authorizes studies and projects under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, would work in this case.
The options of whether to renovate or rebuild the Jackson Boulevard reservoir were proposed at the Feb. 12 village council meeting and, although there was no official vote, commissioners said that they were leaning toward building new reservoirs. An official vote is not yet scheduled.
“We gave it out to our Village Administrator [Rachell Entler] and she’s the liaison to the commissioners,” Stella said. “We presented it and gave them the options. It’s now their job to figure out what to do.”
