In 2007, the village of LaGrange Park underwent the installation of a new separate storm water runoff system designed to alleviate the overall number of problems caused by excessive flooding in areas that consistently suffered such problems during heavy rains, and to save both the time and energy required to sanitize contaminated rainwater through water treatment plants.
Prior to the transition to the modernized sewer system, LaGrange Park relied solely on the older infrastructure of a combined sewer system to carry away its flood water. What this means, is that all of the clean rainwater generated during conditions of bad weather travels trough the same pipe as the village’s wastewater. The downside of the use of a single pipe for water transport, however, is that sanitary storm water becomes tainted in the process and must then be thoroughly decontaminated at a treatment plant.
“As time goes by,” said Julius Hansen, the La Grange Park Public Works Director, “you begin to question why is it necessary to go through all of the extra steps created by the combined system in order to treat already clean rainwater.”
Through the addition of a separate pipe to the sewer system to allow the flow of clean storm water into Salt Creek, the new system eliminates these extra steps. Because the rainwater remains isolated it is no longer necessary for it to go to the treatment plant for purification, instead the water flows directly into the creek, which is naturally the best place for it.
In light of the recent, local flooding, this new system has truly been put to the test and the newly found results of the modification have proved to be highly beneficial. Consequently, the areas in which the system was applied witnessed a severe reduction in the severity of both street and basement flooding.
“We did receive some phone-calls concerning basement flooding and similar issues, but definitely not to the extent of previous years,” said Hansen, “Overall we’ve experienced great success and this system has proved to be a benefit, not only to the village of LaGrange Park, but to any village willing to make the transition."
--Submitted by Jette Pleasant, Features Manager |
