West Park Sanitary Storage Project Now Complete
The Village of Wilmette is pleased to announce the completion of the West Park Sanitary Storage project which will reduce the severity and frequency of sewer backups for over 1300 homes in west Wilmette. This award-winning $18.5 million project began in September of 2014 and became fully operational May 19, 2016.
Selected as one of the American Public Works Association’s National Public Works Projects of the Year, the West Park Sanitary Storage Project puts Wilmette in a very elite group of winning agencies across the country. Project representatives will be recognized at the APWA annual convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota in August.
The project was made possible through a partnership with between the Village and the Wilmette Park District, which worked with the Village to develop an intergovernmental agreement by which, in addition to an important flood control project, residents would also benefit from a greatly enhanced West Park. The Village provided $1.5 million of funding that permitted the Park District to proceed with its construction of major improvements to West Park, including the addition of a new engineered synthetic surface field that will greatly enhance the Park’s usability for multiple sports and improve its playability.
The principal component of the project is a 5.5 million gallon reservoir constructed under the newly renovated West Park. The underground reservoir will hold excess sanitary sewer flows during rain events. The second component is installation of a backflow valve within the 36-inch sanitary sewer main under Lake Avenue that will prevent sewerage from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) from backing up into Wilmette’s pipe. The final component is a 1 MGD (million gallon per day) pump station that will pump sewer flows downstream during heavy rain events.
The Village of Wilmette would like to thank its partners on this project, including the Wilmette Park District, the joint venture of RJN/Boller, RHMG Engineers and Archon Construction.