Many homeowners are familiar with foundation cracks that allow a trickle of water into their basement on rainy days. Flossmoor officials are facing a similar problem at the village’s underground reservoir, except that thousands of gallons of water are escaping through cracks every day.
John Brunke, the village’s public works director, says repairs to the reservoir will be completed this spring. Flossmoor is about to seek bids on the repairs and the project should begin in April, he said. The repairs are expected to cost about $200,000.
reservoir has resulted in leaks that will cost about
$200,000 to repair, according to village officials.
(Provided photo)
Many homeowners are familiar with foundation cracks that allow a trickle of water into their basement on rainy days.
Flossmoor officials are facing a similar problem at the village’s underground reservoir, except that thousands of gallons of water are escaping through cracks every day.
John Brunke, the village’s public works director, says repairs to the reservoir will be completed this spring. Flossmoor is about to seek bids on the repairs and the project should begin in April, he said. The repairs are expected to cost about $200,000.
The reservoir is currently losing about 25,000 gallons of water a day, Brunke said. Over the course of a year, that would translate into $40,000 worth of Lake Michigan water that Flossmoor purchases from Harvey, which receives it from Chicago.
The leak was discovered last November. Public Works crews found that a significant amount of water was draining onto the tile below the reservoir. The reservoir was drained, revealing several cracks in the concrete base.
After that, an engineering study was conducted by an outside firm. Brunke said the study was a necessary step before the start of repairs.
The 3-million gallon reservoir, located just north of Vollmer Road and west of the Metra railroad tracks, was built in the 1960s. It is connected to Flossmoor’s three water towers and the rest of the village’s water distribution system.
Brunke said the reservoir is a safeguard against a disruption in the village’s water supply if anything happens to the distribution system north of Flossmoor.
“We use about one million gallons of water a day,” he said. “So the reservoir gives us a three-day cushion if there is some kind of disruption.”
The reservoir is 30 feet deep and 150 feet in diameter. When it was drained late last year, most of the water was shifted to the village’s other storage areas. Three feet of water at the bottom of the reservoir was drained into a nearby detention pond.
Repairs to the reservoir will mostly focus on sealing the cracks, similar to what happens when homeowners address their basement leaks. The work will also include maintenance, such as coating the concrete in the reservoir.
Brunke called the project “a fix and an upgrade” and said it’s likely the reservoir won’t need similar work for another 30 years.
Maintaining Flossmoor’s water distribution system can be costly, Brunke said.
As an example, he pointed out the village’s Meinheit water tower, located just north of the Public Works facility on Central Park Avenue.
The last time the water tower was painted, the bill came to $350,000, he said.