Aqua Illinois preparing plans for Eastwood Manor water system

By the end of 2025, residents in the unincorporated Eastwood Manor neighborhood at Route 120 and Chapel Hill Road should see upgrades to their wells, according to information from its private water provider, Aqua Illinois.

In addition to a new pump house, the McHenry-adjacent subdivision’s upgrades will include filtering the water for iron - a first for the 60-year-old development.

The news comes as a relief to Stephanie Tesmer. The Manor Lane resident has been agitating for Aqua to fix the water system’s iron and rust issues since she moved into the neighborhood in 2021.

Aqua Illinois Inc. purchased the neighborhood’s water system from a previous owner in late 2015 and began operating it in 2016. The company completed several projects to improve the aging water system since then, Illinois Director of Operations Andy Price told the Northwest Herald earlier this year.

“Eastwood Manor is a priority system for us, and we are confident that we remain on track to install an iron filtration system by the end of 2025,” Price wrote in a recent email.

But fixing the water and removing the rust-causing iron “is not as simple as installing a filtration system,” Price wrote. “The next step in making this a reality is to construct a new pump house to house the equipment.”

The company has been meeting with engineers at its existing Eastwood Manor building and anticipate putting out a request for proposals for the project “within the next several months,” he said.

Aqua will need to design the system and well house, as well as receive the appropriate permits for construction, according to company spokeswoman.

Tesmer said the neighborhood is excited knowing a fix is on the way. “They are excited, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel after 60 years of bad water,” Tesmer said.

“It is a long time coming and we deserve it. People shouldn’t have to fight for good water,” Tesmer said.