Water Supply

The water supply section oversees the 10,200,000 gallon water reservoir at Touhy Avenue located just west of Milwaukee Avenue, one overhead storage tank whose capacity is 250,000 gallons, and the 1,000,000 gallon stand tank located within the Four Flags Shopping Center.

Responsibilities

The water supply section is ultimately responsible for the availability of water from Lake Michigan via the City of Evanston. The water plants' combined pumping capacity is 26,000 gallons per minute. 

Quite contrary to the old saying "Out of sight, out of mind," the Department of Public Works adheres to a proactive approach for infrastructure maintenance, especially for water and sewer.

From the City of Evanston: Illinois EPA Drinking Water Sampling Update (2/11/2022)The splash of a water drop

The Village of Niles purchases drinking water from the City of Evanston through the Morton Grove-Niles Water Commission. Recent water sampling detected levels of one PFAS chemical just above the guidance level of 2.0 parts per trillion established by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Please see details below from the City of Evanston as well as a link to the City's web site for additional information.

From the City of Evanston:

In 2021, the Illinois EPA began an ongoing sampling investigation of Perfluoroalkyls (PFAS) chemicals in community water supplies. PFAS are human-made chemicals that have been used in industrial and consumer products worldwide since the 1950s.

Evanston results: Illinois EPA testing determined that one PFAS chemical was detected in the City's drinking water just above its guidance level of 2.0 parts per trillion (ppt) – roughly equivalent to one drop in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The levels detected for this chemical, PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid), were 2.2 ppt (9/2/2021), 2.3 ppt (11/16/2021), and 2.2 ppt (11/16/2021). These concentrations are well below the US EPA published Lifetime Health Advisory Level of 70 ppt.

Next steps: The City is following recommendations from the Illinois EPA and closely monitoring the latest health-based guidance. At this time, no enforceable federal or state drinking water standard, called a Maximum Contaminant Level or MCL, exists for PFAS chemicals.

See more information about PFAS in drinking water from the City of Evanston.