Water Plant Upgrade Will Soon Be Underway

The information below comes from the City of Highland Park.

 The City Council took steps to advance the upgrade of the Highland Park's Water Treatment Plant at last Monday's meeting.

Located at the east end of Park Avenue on Lake Michigan, the plant provides potable water for all water customers in Highland Park. The City contractually provides water to the municipalities of Deerfield, Lincolnshire and Bannockburn, and provides service to the Glenbrook Sanitary District and Fort Sheridan. Those contracts extend through year 2032.  

Additionally, the City has the capability to provide water on an emergency basis to Northbrook, Highwood, Lake Forest and Glencoe.

The facility was built in 1929 and can produce 21 million gallons of water per day. For many years, the summer time demands have approached the Environmental Protection Agency’s permitted threshold. As a result, the City had been exploring increasing plant capacity since the early 1990s.

The planned technology will meet the demands of the facility, today and for the future. The new membrane system provides much greater protection from disease-causing microorganisms.  In short, the technology will further improve the high quality level of drinking water provided for Highland Park and its contracted customers.  

The following contractors have been selected to work with the City on this project:

• General Contractor:  Joseph J. Henderson & Son, Inc.Consulting
• Engineering Firm:  CDM Smith, Inc.
• Technology:  Memcor submerged membrane filtration system by Siemens Water Technologies Corp.

All of the communities benefiting from the Water Treatment Plant Upgrade will contribute financially to the project, with the contract cities covering approximately one-half of the cost. Contracts for surrounding community water purchase from Highland Park were renewed in 2008 and extend until year 2032 to ensure continued purchase of water from Highland Park throughout the life of the bonds for the project.  

The Plant upgrade project is funded through a combination of General Obligation Bonds and Recovery Zone Bonds; the total investment is approximately $31 million.   

David Knapp, City Manager stated, “This is a critical project for the City that will address overdue Water Treatment Plant improvements and ensure that the Plant is able to generate the necessary capacity and highest quality water for Highland Park”.

Construction is estimated to begin in January, 2013 and substantial completion is anticipated by December, 2014.

The footprint of the plant will remain the same. The Plant will not close while this important upgrade is underway. Public access to the beach, yacht club and boat launch will be interrupted until June, 2014.   

Regular updates will be provided on the City’s web site at www.cityhpil.com/WaterPlantUpgrade.     

Questions regarding the project can be directed to Don Jensen, Superintendent of Water Production at 847-433-4355.

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