Updated: 9/5/25

Overview

The Systemwide Potable Water Distribution Improvements project includes several water infrastructure projects throughout the city. The proposed improvements are the most cost-effective and sustainable of the alternatives studied.

Project Status

Phase 1: Ground storage tanks at I-55 Tank Site

Status: 60 percent design

Phase 2: Distribution Pump Station in Hamilton Zone

Status: 60 percent design

Phase 3: Elevated Tank at Division Street

Status: 60 percent design

Phase 4: New 36-inch Transmission Main

Status: 60 percent design

Phase 5: Pipe Upgrades along Fort Jesse Road

Status: 100 percent construction (Complete)
Awarded Contractor: George Gildner, Inc.
Award Date and Amount: May 2024; $454,458
Completion Date and Final Cost: November 2024; $454,458

Phase 6: Elevated Storage Tank at Hamilton Road and Morris Avenue

Status: 80 percent construction
Awarded Contractor: Landmark Structures
Award Date and Amount: May 2024; $7,485,010
Completion Status: Current Critical Path Schedule

The Water Department’s contractor, Landmark Structures, lifted a new, 1-million-gallon composite elevated tank elevated storage tank in August 2025 as part of the Systemwide Potable Water Distribution Improvements Project. The elevated storage tank is located at the northwest corner of Hamilton Road and Morris Avenue (Prairie Vista golf course) in a zone that does not have other elevated storage. Elevated storage helps to maintain a more consistent water pressure zone, reduces shock waves throughout the zone introduced by rapid water demand changes, and creates a more resilient system. The elevated tank is also part of the total on-hand system storage that the City needs during emergency situations.

Phase 7: Repurposing the Division Street Pump Station as Booster Pump Station

Status: 60 percent design

Phase 8: Repurposing the South Main Street Pump Station as Booster Pump Station

Status: 60 percent design

Funding

These projects are self-funded out of the City’s Water Fund as a result of recent water rate increases. With the age of the City's water system, a "generational" investment is required to comply with new state and federal mandates and to ensure the continued quality of the City's drinking water.

History/Schedule

In January 2020, City Council approved a contract with Donohue & Associates for the Division and Enterprise Pump Station Planning Study. The scope of this study was a single, combined pump station to replace the existing Division and Enterprise pump stations. Staff recommended this study based on early drafts of the 2019 Water Infrastructure Master Plan that City Council approved in July 2020. Click here for more information about the Water Infrastructure Master Plan.

In January 2021, City Council approved a contract with Donohue & Associates for the First Amendment to the Division and Enterprise Pump Station Planning Study to develop and evaluate alternative locations for the distribution system improvements presented in the first phase of the planning study. In July 2021, the Division and Enterprise Pump Station Planning Study was completed with recommendations for systemwide distribution improvements to be completed in lieu of the improvements included in the original scope of the study.

The planning study concluded that:

• The Division and Enterprise pump stations are located on the site of the original 1874 Bloomington Water Works which included the water supply wells;
• With City growth eastward over the intervening 150 years, this Division Street location is not optimal for delivery of water to the majority of customers; and
• Keeping a pumping facility at Division Street will require the City to replace the existing on-site storage reservoirs and the transmission mains that lie in an environmentally sensitive corridor through the Town of Normal.

Following the study, staff renamed the project to Systemwide Potable Water Distribution Improvements to incorporate the various improvements recommended by the study. Additional details for each individual project are included below.

In April 2022, City Council approved a contract with Donohue & Associates for Preliminary Design for the Systemwide Potable Water Distribution Improvements project, in the amount of $1,497,400. This work has been completed, and a final design contract was approved in the amount of $2,999,480.