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Bedford Park launches programs to separate sewer and water pipes to address flooding concerns
Bedford Park, IL – The Village of Bedford Park, Bedford Park staff, the Village Board, and Mayor David Brady are working on options to help prevent damage to homes caused by rainfall flooding that impacted the Southwest region this past summer.
About 60 homes were impacted by the flooding that swept the Chicagoland region and impacted Bedford Park, Mayor Brady said.
Mayor Brady said that in addition to separating the sewage and rainwater pipes into separate drainage pipe systems, the Village is also exploring several other solutions to help homeowners, including preventing electricity loss, which impaired my sump pumps from operating during the floods.
“We have looked at many options to help our homeowners and one of the most important is for the village to fully fund the replacement of our drainage system by separating sewage drainage from rainwater drainage,” Mayor Brady explained.
“We are also looking at programs to help homeowners maintain electrical service during extreme rainwater storms like we saw this past summer. Many homes had water flooding in part because their sump pumps operated only on electricity and did not have battery backups.”
Mayor Brady said the Village is working with Burke Engineering, a specialist in addressing these issues, to begin next June the replacement of the existing drainage system with the two-pronged system, one for sewage drainage and one for rainwater drainage.
Another consideration is the creation of a new conservation park on the north property which would include two small “detention ponds.”
And, Mayor Brady said, the village would create one or more “retention ponds” in the Clearing Industrial area.
“The main difference between a retention pond and a detention pond is that a retention pond holds a permanent pool of water year-round, while a detention pond stays dry between rainstorms,” Mayor Brady explained.
“Both systems are engineered stormwater management tools used to control runoff from parking lots, roofs, and streets after heavy rainfall, but function in different ways and appear very differently.”
Additionally, Mayor Brady said the village is considering working with an electrical home battery system, which would store electrical energy, allow homeowners to sell the excess saved electricity to ComEd, and operate during power outages to ensure sump pumps continue operating.
“In many cases, the flooding we saw for many homes was caused by sump pumps that could not operate because the electricity was lost. We’re looking at a system called Base manufactured by a Texas company that is affordable and that the village would fund for homeowners,” Mayor Brady said.
“We understand the systems could reduce electrical costs by about 10 percent but, more importantly, provide an instant backup triggered by an electrical outage, like what we saw during the rainstorms.”
He said that the village would fund all the projects
The batteries cost about $95 each. He said that about 30 percent of the homes need that kind of support.
“We are checking to make sure the system is compatible with our homeowners,” Mayor Brady said.
Finally, Mayor Brady said the Village is working with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (WRMD), the Village of Summit, and Ingredion to address flooding that occurs at the viaduct on Archer Avenue and 63rd Street.
Mayor Brady said the village would cover the costs of the upgrades and improvements, noting the separation of sewage and rainwater drainage pipes would begin in June.
For more information, visit the Village of Bedford Park’s website at
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