Oak Park officials have approved spending more than a million dollars to repair cracks in the village’s central underground water reservoir — a process that could leave Stevenson Park torn up.
The reservoir, built in 1925, is the largest and oldest in the village and stores about 5 million gallons of water for the village to use as drinking water. It sits underneath the west side of Stevenson, near Lake Street and Lombard Avenue.
“We have four reservoirs and all of them are underground,” said Bill McKenna, an engineer with the village. Oak Park tests the reservoirs every five years by draining them, cleaning them and inspecting and repairing any damage. The largest reservoir is so big that village engineers use a boat and scuba equipment to inspect it in between the five year cleaning cycle, said McKenna.
“Right now we’re just seeing [the concrete] cracking,” said John Wielebnicki, Oak Park’s public works director.
Considering the age and volume of water the reservoir holds, he said the damage to the concrete, which maintains its structural integrity underwater, is not major.
The village approved extensions of the contracts with Rausch Infrastructure and with Ciorba Group to repair cracks in the village’s central underground water reservoir. Rausch will be paid $1,182,170 to repair the reservoir and Ciorba will be paid $114,771 to provide engineering services related to the repairs. The village will be partnering with the Park District of Oak Park to complete the repairs.
Trustees asked how much it would cost to completely replace a reservoir if it is damaged beyond repair and Wielebnicki said it would cost between $10 and 20 million.
“We are in discussions with the village regarding what work will be completed, once the reservoir repairs are finished, to bring the park back to its original condition,” said Diane Stanke, director of marketing and customer service at Park District of Oak Park.
One aspect of those discussions is the village restoring turf on the west side of Stevenson Park if it must be removed during the repair process, she said.
Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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