For many, turning on the faucet for a glass of drinking water requires little thought or hesitation. For the residents of Sadorus, Illinois, turning on that faucet required little thought indeed: they simply didn’t do it.

New connector piping awaits installment in the Village of Sadorus.

For years—decades, for some—drinking tap water in Sadorus was not an option. Bottled water was used for most everything, from brushing teeth to brewing coffee, to cooking dinner and sometimes even bathing. The antiquated water system had deteriorated beyond its useful life. It was outdated and undersized, with consistently low pressure and discoloration, not to mention a rather unpleasant taste and odor.

Despite being located just a handful of miles from the outskirts of the City of Champaign with a population of over 87,000, the 400-plus residents of Sadorus were growing tired of not being able to partake in one of the most fundamental elements in life – safe drinking water.

Systemic changes

Things changed in 2017. Illinois American Water elected to acquire the Village of Sadorus’s water system with a promise to turn things around. The company asked MSA to provide design and construction oversight expertise toward this endeavor.

The project entailed connecting a new, eight-inch water transmission main from the Champaign County water system and routing it approximately three miles directly into Sadorus to its water treatment building.  At the treatment building, water pressure is regulated and checked for chlorine and fluoride concentration before going into the system. This $1.2 million investment brought safe, high-quality, pretreated water to the residents of the Village for the first time in years and was completed in 2018.

As with any project, there came challenges. Some of the main obstacles were in crossing a four-lane interstate, a creek, three major petroleum lines and crossing the county highway at three different locations. These obstacles, along with preparing easements and permits from three different agencies, provided the project many types of problematic issues to resolve.

A long-awaited celebration

Sadorus citizens celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 26, 2018, and were joined by Illinois State Representative Brad Halbrook, Illinois State Senator Chapin Rose, Village government and Illinois American Water officials.

Future improvement plans are to include upgrading undersized, outdated water mains as well as adding and upgrading new fire hydrants to enhance fire protection.