As part of plans to construct its own water treatment plant, the City of Waterloo has made steps to build a larger new water tower in town.

The Waterloo Planning Commission recently gave a favorable recommendation to the Waterloo Zoning Board of Appeals on the matter, with the zoning board granting a special use permit for the new tower.

Waterloo Public Works Director Tim Birk told the Republic-Times that plans are to build this new tower on the southeast corner of the Waterloo VFW property at 406 Veterans Drive. 

Reasons for the new tower, Birk said, are the age of the existing tower and the need for additional water storage. 

The timeline of construction for the new tower is yet to be determined, Birk said, but it would have a storage size of 500,000 gallons of water.

The existing tower located next to Waterloo City Hall, has a water capacity of 250,000 gallons.

The estimated cost of this new water tower is $2.5 million, Birk said.

“The (city) council has not made a decision on what to do with the existing 80-year-old water tower,” Birk said.

In February 2019, Waterloo announced plans to build its own water treatment facility just east of Valmeyer and leave Illinois American Water, its current provider, at the end of the existing contract, which expires in October 2024.

The estimated total cost of the water treatment facility project is $17 million. Funds for this new facility will be financed through a low-interest IEPA loan.

Birk has said the new plant will be able to accommodate 3.5 million gallons per day. Presently, Waterloo uses about one million gallons per day.