Do Hinsdale's Big Houses Affect Water System?

HINSDALE, IL — Hinsdale is poised to replace the 98-year-old water main on West Chicago Avenue from Washington to Stough streets this year.

It is a 12-inch line, and its replacement is set to be the same size.

At Tuesday's Hinsdale Village Board meeting, Trustee Laurel Haarlow asked whether the village should expand the size of the new main, given all the redevelopment in town.

"They are servicing such larger houses," Haarlow said.

Village Engineer Dan Deeter said the village typically uses 8-inch mains on most residential streets and 12-inch ones for distribution lines.

"Those are more than adequate to provide pressure throughout Hinsdale," Deeter said.

Trustee Neal Byrnes said Haarlow had a good question.

"With some of these new houses, these bathrooms and these showers have all these nozzles and everything. Sometimes I wonder whether we have enough pressure to activate those," Byrnes said.

Haarlow said that years ago, houses had fewer bathrooms, but now they usually have one per bedroom.

"It's an enormous amount of water consumption that has gone up," she said.

Deeter said pressure is monitored throughout the village and the data is taken into account in system designs.