The village council is moving forward with a study to explore potential sites for the construction of a new water reservoir in Forest Park to replace the one on Jackson Boulevard.
The village has two reservoirs that hold potable water for its residents: a 350,000-gallon reservoir on Hannah Avenue and a million-gallon one on Jackson Boulevard beneath the Howard Mohr Community Center.
The Jackson Boulevard reservoir is the older of the two reservoirs and is nearing the end of its 75-year lifespan. At the end of last year, the village installed emergency buttresses to hold up the reservoir’s deteriorating ceiling and restricted access to the community center’s playground above the reservoir.
Early this year, the village council continued conversations about whether to rehab the Jackson Boulevard reservoir or build a new one in a different location.
At the last village council meeting, commissioners approved Christopher B. Burke Engineering’s facilitation of a feasibility study for two hypothetical locations to build dual water reservoirs and a pump station.
The engineering firm will analyze the village-owned land at the Altenheim and the CTA Blue Line parking lot as potential locations to store the village’s drinking water.
These two sites are the largest plots of village-owned land in Forest Park with easy access to the Jackson Avenue water main, which carries water from Chicago.
The feasibility study of these two sites will include a geotechnical investigation, water model study, renderings and a concept layout.
Christopher Burke Engineering plans to complete the feasibility study in February. If the village council decides to move forward with constructing a new water reservoir, design efforts will take place next year and construction will likely start in 2026, according to the project proposal.
The village will pay Christopher Burke Engineering $227,450 to complete the feasibility study. The village has also applied for a loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to fund the project’s potential design, engineering and construction.
“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,” Sal Stella, director of public works, told the Review in the past.
The construction of two new above-ground water reservoirs, likely a million gallons each, would last another 75 years and cost $10 million, including the cost to build them and demolish the Jackson Boulevard reservoir.
