St. Charles unveiled its new Riverside Lift Station, a part of the city’s wastewater system, and the surrounding park area at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday. The new lift station, at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Devereaux Way, pumps wastewater from a low point up the hill to the city’s water treatment plant, according to Tim Wilson, who works for the city’s Public Works Department. He said during the ceremony that the $14.8 million station was paid for through the Illinois EPA Low-Interest Loan Program. St. Charles Mayor Lora Vitek said the city’s ribbon cuttings are typically flashy, and although this one was not that, the lift station is “crucial infrastructure” for the city. The project also made improvements to Riverside Avenue, reconstructed Devereaux Way and added a small park with historical monuments, walking paths and public restrooms to the area around the Riverside Lift Station, which is located along the Fox River Trail, Wilson said. The historic Jones Law Office used to sit where the Riverside Lift Station currently stands, so part of the project also involved moving that building to a new spot within the park, he said. The lift station itself will handle around 6,000 St. Charles homes, which represents around 54% of the city’s population, according to Wilson. He said the facility was designed to move 35 million gallons of sewage each day. The project replaced a previous lift station, which was located on the other side of Riverside Avenue next to the river, Wilson said. The old station was built on the site of the city’s old wastewater treatment plant and included parts from that plant, he said. Tim Wilson of the St. Charles Public Works Department gives a tour of the new Riverside Lift Station following a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility on Monday. (R. Christian Smith / The Beacon-News) According to a news release about the ceremony, some of those parts dated back to the early 1920s. Design work on the project started back in 2020, with construction beginning in June 2022 and the project fully completed this year, according to Wilson. He said the project was both on time and on budget. Trotter Associates designed the station, and the construction was completed by Whittaker Construction & Excavating, Inc., the release said. In addition to simply pumping wastewater, the Riverside Lift Station also includes large screens to catch large solids and debris from the water before it makes its way to the city’s wastewater treatment plan, Wilson said as he gave a tour of the facility after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The lift station also has an odor control system, which prevents wastewater smells from leaking outside the building, he said. [email protected]