$9.8M Filter Fix Approved For Lake Forest Water Plant

LAKE FOREST, IL — A plan to spend more than $9 million to rebuild a water filter system was approved by the Lake Forest City Council last week. The Council gave final approval to bids from JJ Henderson and Son for construction and Strand Associates for engineering, according to the Lake Forester.

City officials said the project was necessary because the French filter manufacturer, Aquasource, stopped making the size of water filters Lake Forest has been using for more than a decade. Today, the standard is filters with a 10-inch diameter, but the water plant had relied on a supply of 18-inch filters, the Lake Forester reports.

After considering whether to privatize the water plant or contract to purchase water from other neighboring municipalities, city officials last year decided to fix up the existing plant, which was built by a private entity in 1891 and bought by Lake Forest in 1921.

Construction costs are budgeted at $8.8 million over two years, engineering is expected to cost $570,000, while the project has a contingency fee of $441,000 priced in, the paper reports.

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Top photo: Lake Forest Water Plant (Courtesy City of Lake Forest)