West Chicago water tower to get a ‘face-lift’
West Chicago’s Fremont Street water tower appears set for refurbishment.
A resolution authorizing a contract to repaint and upgrade West Chicago’s oldest water tower will heard at the Feb. 19 city council meeting. Bids for the work were reviewed on Feb. 1 by the city’s infrastructure committee.
Among the three bids submitted, the one selected was a $719,900 price quote from Era Valdivia Contractors, Inc. of Chicago.
Era Valdivia’s bid was more than $355,000 below the second-ranked bid and less than half of the third.
KLM Engineering structural condition assessments in 2020 indicated the Fremont Street water tower was prime for safety upgrades and a fresh coat of paint, said Mehul Patel, West Chicago’s director of public works.
“It’s a long-overdue project for the city of West Chicago,” he said.
Now a faded light blue, the 250,000-gallon water tower at 2024 Fremont St. was built in 1952. It has not been repainted since 1990.
The city’s other water tower, the 500,000-gallon Hawthorne Tower, 601 W. Hawthorne Lane, was built around 1968, Patel said. Its 2020 condition assessment revealed no need for major repairs. A routine washing is scheduled for this year.
KLM’s assessment identified improvements that would bring the Fremont Street water tower into compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and American Waterworks Association standards.
The project will include sandblasting the exterior and interior of the tower and applying new coatings inside and out. There also will be some landscaping work with new perimeter fencing.
The assessment also recommended foundation repairs, replacing the original valves, and installing new hatches, gaskets and a submersible mixer.
In addition to removing the tower’s outdated ladder system, workers will install new safety railing and fall protection equipment.
“We’re kind of excited for the face-lift that’s coming to the tower,” Patel said. “It does its job, but the paint job will make it more appealing for pedestrians downtown.”