Caterpillar Trail Public Water District New Water Treatment Plant

The Caterpillar Trail Public Water District services the Village of Germantown Hills and the surrounding area in Woodford County, IL. This area has experienced significant growth in recent years and is projected to continue this growth by almost doubling within the next 20 years. The existing water system had reached its capacity and was barely able to meet peak demands.

Farnsworth Group and Bowen Engineering Corporation teamed together to plan, obtain financing, design, permit, and oversee construction of a new 2.3 MGD lime softening water treatment plant, an additional 800 gpm groundwater well, and additional water main improvements. The decision to build a new water treatment plant was influenced by several primary factors. Site constraints prevented the district from expanding the existing plant. The district also wanted to improve the water quality to provide softened drinking water, a feature not present in the existing process. The district also wanted to eliminate any wastewater discharge from the plant process to the Village’s sewer system, as was the case with the existing process.

The new lime softening plant includes aeration, detention, solids contact softening, recarbonation, rapid sand filtration, finished water storage, and lime sludge dewatering lagoons. The lime storage and feeding system provided allows District staff to purchase dry calcium hydroxide to then mix into a custom 30-40% liquid lime slurry. This mixture percentage will not produce scaling inside the piping, which will then reduce maintenance efforts and cost. The plant processes are also provided with a back-up power supply from a new emergency on-site generator with automatic transfer switch. The plant processes are automated with controls and telemetry to allow the district to operate and maintain the plant with minimal staff. All processes are contained in a block building with concrete roofing for minimal maintenance and features large windows along the front east face to provide an aesthetic appeal as well as the functional benefit of providing additional natural light into the space.

Additional improvements include a new 800 gpm ground water well to increase water source capacity, a new 400,000-gallon ground water storage tank to increase finished water storage capacity and new water main to upgrade and loop existing areas and serve the growing east side of the district. The water transmission main to serve the growing east side ranged in size from 12” to 16” and provided larger capacity flows without creating excessive pressures for the system and its customers.