Illinois American Water to upgrade distribution in Champaign County District

Illinois American Water’s Champaign County District has invested around $2m to upgrade its water service distribution system.

This investment covers replacement and installation of more than 7,000ft of water main across the service area including Champaign, Urbana and Savoy.

This investment, however, does not consist of water main extension project close to Sadorus, which includes over three miles of water main installation and involves an investment of over $1.2m.

The Sadorus project is nearing completion and once done, the Sadorus community will be linked to Illinois American Water’s Champaign County water service distribution system.

Illinois American Water’s water main replacement programme senior manager of field operations and production Dave Farrar said that the firm is focusing on replacement of mains where leaks occur, corrosion has caused damage or the size of the pipe is not enough.

Most of the pipe to be replaced will be upsized from 2-inch galvanized pipe to 6-inch and 8-inch ductile iron pipe.

Further, several loops will be created within the distribution system to provide quality water service.

Farrar said: “Continuous investment in our local water infrastructure is critical for ensuring customers receive quality, reliable drinking water service. This work to replace and upgrade water mains will help ensure adequate water pressure and flow to homes, businesses and for fire protection. Water main replacements also help to decrease the occurrence of water main breaks and related traffic and service impact.”

Illinois American Water is a unit of American Water. It provides reliable water and/or wastewater services to around 1.3 million people.

American Water also operates a customer service facility in Alton and a quality control and research laboratory in Belleville.

American Water employs over 7,100 people to provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to over 14 million people in 45 states and Ontario, Canada.