In the coming months, Forest Park will be replacing lead pipes that carry drinking water to residents’ homes and other buildings.
The village has worked for more than a decade to replace its roughly 3,400 service lines, about 1,100 of which are lead and nearly 1,500 that are partial lead. But more than 2,000 lead service lines still need to be replaced.
“Forest Park has always been proactive in helping the community upgrade to copper,” Sal Stella, director of public works, has told the Review in the past..
The same is true in many municipalities, especially because in 2021, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill requiring Illinois to replace lead service lines.
Lead is a toxic metal that can leach into drinking water, which is especially harmful for children to ingest. Though Forest Park’s drinking water contains trace contaminants of lead, it is safe to drink.
At a council meeting May 28, council members approved Christopher B. Burke Engineering’s proposal for this year’s lead service replacement project. They also awarded the contract for the 2024 lead service replacement project to IHC Construction Companies.
Both agenda items were approved unanimously by commissioners and Mayor Rory Hoskins. Commissioner Maria Maxham was absent from the council meeting.
The approved proposal suggests replacing lead service lines with copper ones that run from the Buffalo Box valve at the parkway, between the village’s streets and sidewalks, to 18 inches inside residences and buildings.
According to Burke Engineering’s proposal, these replacements will take place around town, but most notably between the 1000 and 1100 block of Harlem Avenue, 7200 and 7300 blocks of Roosevelt Road, 800 and 1200 blocks of Elgin Avenue, 800 and 1200 blocks of Circle Avenue, and the 1200 block of Marengo Avenue.
Burke Engineering is charging the village $215,900 for its proposal, plus construction observation and inspection afterward.
The village received six bids for the project to replace the lead pipes. IHC Construction Companies submitted the lowest bid, which the village accepted at $2,204,375.
To pay Burke Engineering and IHC, the village will use funds from a $2.35 million forgivable loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Work will be completed by the end of November.
