A half-million gallon water tower will be built in Du Quoin's industrial park over the next 2½ years, which is expected to spur further economic development in the park as well as cover the city's water needs for at least the next 75 years, officials said.
Du Quoin has been awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration. Coupled with a $1 million investment from the city, the money will build a 500,000-gallon elevated water storage tank in the industrial park and a dedicated, four-mile water line from the Rend Lake main line, directly to the tank. Rend Lake is the city's only source of potable water.
A news release from the Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission said the water tower is expected to create 121 jobs during construction, retain 57 jobs and generate $9.2 million in private investment.
Jeff Ashauer, Du Quoin's director of planning and development said those numbers could go higher, as they reflect only what current business park residents predict the additional water storage will enable them to do. As new businesses are attracted to the park, more private investment will be made and more jobs will be created, he said.
The $4 million represents the biggest single grant Du Quoin has ever received and the biggest one the EDA has even awarded to the Greater Egypt Regional commission, said Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi.
"We're excited," Alongi said. "This puts out potable water issues to bed for the next two or three generations."
The real prize, he and Ashauer said, is what it means for economic development in the industrial park. This massive above-ground tank, coupled with the railroad spur off the CN main line that was initially built to service Chester Construction Supply but can be extended to other businesses, make Du Quoin's industrial park, "a polished little diamond of an industrial park, with shovel-ready acres and with access to rail," Ashauer said.
Moreover, businesses will see the park as a safe investment, he added. As well, the park is designed so that each industry has the ability to buy more land and expand, meaning no business should ever have to leave Du Quoin in order to grow.
Ashauer said that once construction has started on the water tower he will be back in front of the Du Quoin City Council, asking for money to enable him to aggressively market the industrial park -- both inside and outside of Illinois.
Third attempt
The city has quietly been pursuing this grant since 2018, after unsuccessful attempts were made in 2007 and 2011.
This time, though, the city had the benefit of being able to tout the new hemp processing plant, Illinois Premium Extracts, the latest business to take up residence in the business park and a big business to boot. The EDA, said Alongi, wants evidence of an industrial park's viability before investing millions, and the hemp plant gave them that.
"We aggressively went after it this time," Alongi said. "And I think the federal government looked at it as a win-win -- a great way to get potable water and to invest in economic development."
Alongi estimates it will be a 2½-year project, with construction starting in mid- to late summer of 2022 and taking about a year and a half. Coupled with the city's 300,000-gallon elevated tank at the south end of Walnut Street and the million-gallon underground tank at the end of North Division Street, the new tank will bring the city's water storage capacity to 1.8 million gallons.
The city has not had water emergencies over the years, although capacity did drop to 20,000 gallons during the 2018 Rend Lake water crisis -- a time when some towns in the region went bone-dry. But the extra capacity is good for residents and businesses and good for the city's fire insurance rating, Ashauer added.
One of the great benefits to having so much water stored above ground is that it is accessible by gravity and doesn't need to be pumped (like from the underground tank) if a lot of water is needed in an emergency and there's no power.
City Engineer Andy Rainwater said the new water main will extend a little more than four miles from the new tower to a Rend Lake water main on which Du Quoin has a master meter. The water for the new tower, Rainwater said, will flow down the four miles of new pipe, go through the 1 million gallon underground storage tank and then to the elevated tower.
Rainwater estimated the cost of the new water line to be about 30% of the whole $5 million cost. He said the city will prepare separate bids for both the tower and the water line.
The new tower, he said, "is going to be great for the city and the whole region."
The tank itself will be a "statement" tank, as it will be the same size as the water tower in The Hill district in Marion, which can be seen for miles. When asked, Alongi said he's already got a few ideas for the tower's artwork: A big Du Quoin logo in the middle, and reference to Du Quoin's being home to the Du Quoin Indians and Warriors.
The excitement in Du Quoin, and among legislators and statewide leaders, is palpable.
"This is humongous," said Ashauer.
"This new EDA grant will jump-start new infrastructure for Du Quoin's industrial park, boosting jobs for the community and catalyzing millions in private investment to make the park even more attractive for future development," said Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the statement.
Also in the statement, congressman Mike Bost pointed to the jobs being created, and added, "As COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted, getting people back to work and our economy back on track must be our top priorities."
The 'little diamond'
The Du Quoin Industrial Park was started with 60 acres acquired in 1990. The city secured a $1 million grant to put in a street, and water and sewer lines to those 60 acres. Another 40 acres were acquired, but there weren't any more big grants to help it along.
"After the original million, everything that happened out there was done by the city, piecemeal as we had the money," Ashauer explained.
Frequently, communities don't improve property until they have businesses ready to move in, but Du Quoin worked ahead, speculating that if they got the land prepared, businesses would come. IDOT found some money to help with street construction in the additional 40 acres, and the city got the water loop installed two years ago and the sewer loop last year. The conduit for underground electric has been installed throughout all 100 acres.
"The city has great credibility for being proactive," Ashauer said. "And now we are, in part, reaping the rewards of that."
Ashauer said his method has been to wait until Du Quoin had a little money to invest and then make more improvements.
"When Chester (Construction) Supply came in, they bought their land. I took the money, added a little TIF money, and that's how I got water and sewer extended to the new area," he said. "Last fall, I took money out of the TIF and put the electrical conduit in."
The feds, said Ashauer, do not like to speculate with their grants. Instead, they respond to the situation -- in Du Quoin's case the arrival of the hemp processing plant, an $8.5 million investment.
Moreover, the hemp factory uses materials in its processing that requires enhanced fire protection. Du Quoin parlayed that fact into their application for the $4 million grant.
Ashauer, Alongi said, has been like "a mad dog" on getting this grant. He also credits three other major players for their tenacity: former city engineer Doug Bishop; current city engineer Andy Rainwater; and Cary Minnis, executive director of the Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission. "His staff has been a wealth of information and helped us through the paperwork," Alongi said.
"It all comes with work, these things aren't just given," he added.
The mayor said Du Quoin's $1 million contribution will be borrowed, and he thinks it can be done without raising water rates.
Ashauer said building a water main from Rend Lake to the new tower can be done by any number of construction firms in the area. Building a water tower is much more specialized -- Ashauer said there are only three to five companies in the greater southern Illinois region who will bid on the job. But because federal money is involved, the bids have to be advertised nationally, Rainwater said, although logistics make it unlikely that any nonlocal firms will apply.
