Project Overview

A rural community in Woodford County, IL, is seeking to upgrade its water treatment plant (WTP) facility. The system, which has been operating since the late 1800s, received its most recent upgrade in the 1970s. The water system has a total of 167 connections to village households, serving the entire community. The community faces high arsenic and tannin content in their potable water. Therefore, the water treatment plant is not functioning properly. Currently, their WTP has experienced extensive rusting on the pipes, and the filter media in the WTP sand filters is lost when the WTP is backwashed. Therefore, a replacement of the WTP is necessary for the village, so the UIUC chapter will provide WTP blueprints, cost estimates, and a Preliminary Engineering Report (PER). The village will then use these deliverables to apply for funding from the USDA for a new WTP.

About the Community

The community, located in rural Illinois, has 333 residents, the majority of whom are either elderly on fixed incomes, or low-income residents.

Semester Goals

Finalize the work plan this semester and begin our work on the preliminary engineering report (PER), which is the scope of our project.
Host Woodford fundraisers and socials to build team bonds and gain funds to travel.

Community Engineering Corps

The CE Corps is a domestic segment of EWB with the mission to bring “underserved communities and volunteer engineers together to advance local infrastructure solutions in the United States”. It is an alliance with Engineers Without Borders-USA, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Water Works Association. Currently, the CE Corps team at the UIUC chapter is working on the Woodford Project.

Leadership

Learn about the talented team that helps manage our organization and ensures that our projects run smoothly!