The first of two major Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) projects designed to protect six west suburbs from flooding near Addison Creek received a crowning engineering achievement.

The American Society of Civil Engineering-Illinois Section (ASCE IL) recognized the MWRD’s Addison Creek Reservoir with the Outstanding Engineering Achievement for projects ranging in cost from $25 million to $100 million. The MWRD and design consultant engineers from Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd., were honored on Oct. 10 at the InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile.

The 600-acre-foot reservoir, designed to capture 195 million gallons of storage capacity, was completed in 2023. The reservoir connects with the Addison Creek Channel, where three miles of ongoing improvements will combine with the reservoir to protect thousands of homes, businesses and other structures in communities along Addison Creek, including Bellwood, Broadview, Melrose Park, Northlake, Stone Park, and Westchester.

“This recognition from the American Society of Civil Engineers certifies the incredible design and engineering required to deliver this project at the Addison Creek Reservoir,” said MWRD President Kari K. Steele. “This project took years of planning, site analysis, and stakeholder coordination to overcome the many challenges to deliver unique infrastructure that will benefit so many homes and businesses in the area that now have peace of mind when it rains.”

The $81 million reservoir, at 2795 Washington Blvd. in Bellwood, includes a control structure, inlet structure, spillway and pumping station. In addition to providing flood control benefits, the reservoir provides flood storage for the channel improvement project.

The Addison Creek Reservoir and the Addison Creek Channel Improvement project will help ease public health and safety concerns by reducing overbank flooding to approximately 2,200 structures along the creek from Northlake to Broadview, including 1,700 structures that will be removed from the flood plain based on Bulletin 70 rainfall data. According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the project will allow flood-prone properties within these six communities to qualify for reduced flood insurance premiums.

“We are grateful to receive this recognition along with Christopher B. Burke Engineering from the American Society of Civil Engineers Illinois Section for our skilled engineering work on the Addison Creek Reservoir,” said MWRD Vice President Patricia Theresa Flynn. “This investment in flood protection and clean water demonstrates our support for Cook County residents and our commitment to managing stormwater.”

After nearly two years of acquiring land and easements, the MWRD was tasked with cleaning up debris piles, completing demolition, relocating utilities and prepping the Bellview space for transformation into a reservoir. Then using a one-pass trencher with a 70-foot-long blade, the MWRD oversaw the construction of a soil bentonite wall around the reservoir to prevent ground water from entering the site during and after construction. Upon completion of the wall, the MWRD supervised the excavation of over 1 million cubic yards of soil, tunneling, construction of reservoir structures, and installation of the landscape aesthetics. 

Now complete, the bridge installed over Addison Creek serves as a control structure to divert floodwaters that can occur after a two-year to five-year storm event. The floodwater will enter an intake structure and flow into a drop structure and then into two 87.5-inch diameter steel intake pipes. Floodwater exits the pipes on to the spillway inside the reservoir. After the water level recedes in Addison Creek, four main pumps and two low-flow pumps from the pump station wet well convey the water from the reservoir through a 48-inch diameter pipe back into Addison Creek. The reservoir is operated by automated controls that monitor water levels in the creek and reservoir. When it fully fills, it will take approximately five days to pump down.

One of the largest capital projects outside of the MWRD’s Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), the reservoir was partially funded via Cook County through a $5-million Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery Program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The channel improvements benefit from a $9.9-million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant Program through the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security. These projects could not have been completed without this critical support.

Construction on the Addison Creek Channel is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. Full flood reduction benefits will be fully achieved when both projects are completed. When the channel improvements project is completed, the MWRD will submit a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Upon approval of the LOMR, some property owners may be eligible to obtain lower cost premiums on their flood insurance policies.