The Jardine Water Purification Plant, formerly the Central District Filtration Plant, is the world’s largest

water filtration A water filter removes impurities by lowering contamination of water using a fine physical barrier, a chemical process, or a biological process. Filters cleanse water to different extents, for purposes such as: providing agricultural irrigation, ...

plant, purifying 1.4 billion gallons per day. It is located at 1000 East Ohio Street, north of

Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of shops, restaura ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The plant draws

raw water Raw water is water found in the environment that has not been water treatment, treated and does not have any of its minerals, ions, particles, bacteria, or parasites removed. Raw water includes rainwater, ground water, water from infiltration wells ...

from two of the city's water cribs far offshore in

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

and supplies two thirds of City of Chicago consumers in the northern, downtown, and western parts of the city and to many northern and western surrounding suburbs. The plant was constructed in the 1960s and began functioning in 1968. The plant was renamed after James W. Jardine (1908-1977), a 42-year city employee, who served as water commissioner from 1953 until his retirement in 1973. Shortly thereafter the

Ohio Street Beach Ohio Street Beach is an urban beach in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. It faces north. In Lonely Planet's 2022 list of the nine "best beaches in Chicago for a taste of the lake life", Ximena N. Beltran Quan Kiu said Ohio Street Beach was ...

was formed in the bay created by the plant. Landscaping around the plant and in the adjoining Milton Olive Park was designed by Dan Kiley, and a statue, ''Hymn to Water'', by Milton Horn graces the front entrance. The southern portion of the city and many southern suburbs are served by a separate plant, the Sawyer Water Purification Plant. Together the two plants supply water to about 3 million households in the city and 118 suburbs. Filtration methods used by the Jardine Water Plant is extraction and adding chemical additives; with the use of sand and gravel to filter the water, while the chemical additives being fluoride to fight off tooth decay, phosphates to avoid corrosion from the pipes, and chlorine for disinfection.

Notes

{{reflist Water treatment facilities Government of Chicago