The Macomb city council this week gave the thumbs up to awarding two bids for the new water treatment plant project.
“It’s a great relief,” said Public Works Director Alice Ohrtmann. “This will be a great improvement for the people of Macomb.”
One of the bids is for building the plant at the northwest corner of Grant and Ward streets. River City Construction, LLC of East Peoria submitted the low bid of nearly $35.5 million.
The city council also approved a bid for the remote well installation project. Municipal Well and Pump of Waupun, Wis., submitted the lowest qualified bid of nearly $2.8 million.
This part of the water plant project will include the drilling of three deep wells. The wells will be located on city-owned property on West Grant Street, South Cherokee Street, and West Piper Street.
The Illinois EPA last year approved a $37 million State Revolving Fund loan for the projects. The loan includes $6 million in principal forgiveness.
The agency must still sign off on the bids before work can begin. Ohrtmann expects that to come within the next few months.
The new water plant will replace an aging plant in Glenwood Park.
“The old water plant is doing its job, but the operators of the water plant work really hard to keep that plant running, and so it’ll be nice to have a plant that is more reliable,” Ohrtmann said.
“It has better redundant features so that if one pump breaks down there’s already another pump there to take over.”
The city currently gets the majority of its water from Spring Lake. The rest comes from a deep well.
The city council this week also agreed to award the wastewater treatment plant upgrades project to Leander Construction, Inc. of Canton, Ill., for a bit more than $3.5 million.
Funding will come through the IEPA revolving loan program.
The city will also have to wait for the IEPA to give its approval before that project can begin.
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