Motorists who got accustomed to a major water line project along North Vermilion Street last summer will see phase two work begin this spring. Bob Ervin, Regional Manager for Aqua Illinois Water Company, says the work will run north from the Lake Shore Drive area. ‘’We want to try to get an early start on it – if at all possible,’’ says Ervin. ‘’We have to make sure the freezing is completed as we have temporary service lines laying on top of the ground there. But we want to jump on it early.’’
Ervin added the project will be similar to work that was done along North Vermilion Street last year. ‘’We’re going to have a little over one mile of new plastic – if you will – pipe within a pipe, along that stretch all the way up to Poland Road. We’re looking to try to get that off and running very quickly in the spring,’’ added Ervin on the program. And Ervin says the new plastic liner that will be going inside the existing 8-inch cast iron pipe should adequately serve the area for maybe 40 to 60 years.
[The photo with the construction barrels was taken last year in the area along North Vermilion Street where Aqua was doing phase one work.]
Meanwhile Ervin says Aqua is looking at future improvements to the Lake Vermilion dam. ‘’It was constructed in 1925 and we do work on it every year. We do some concrete work on the deck. We look at the gates. But some of those things come to the end of their useful life. You can only repair and weld and do some of those maintenance items so long – and then you need to replace,’’ added Ervin. ‘’And so the next three to five years we’re taking a real hard look at our dam operation and we’ll be making some improvements.’’
Ervin discussed Aqua Illinois Water’s capital improvements on WDAN Radio’s Newsmakers program Tuesday. He added, hopefully, the investments the company is making in new water mains will help reduce repair costs in the future.
