Clean drinking water: Forward-thinking design solves unique Great Lakes challenges

What does it take to deliver clean drinking water from one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world? It begins with thoughtful engineering, often out of sight and below the surface.

That’s what happened in the City of Evanston, Illinois. It’s a suburb just north of Chicago and provides drinking water for nearly 500,000 people. One of its raw water intakes was nearing the end of its useful life and needed replacement. Our team used their local knowledge and engineering acumen to design a new, resilient raw water intake in Lake Michigan. 

From hydraulic analysis to design for constructability, the project needed an integrated team to tackle the challenges of engineering in the Great Lakes. This included specialized coordination for underwater construction engineering, as well as frazil ice and quagga mussel mitigation.

In the end, our work showed how aging water utilities can be reimagined for the future. By developing new approaches to intake design, we’re protecting water quality and improving reliability for generations to come.