B-N Water Reclamation District gets $5 million grant to spark west side industrial development

The Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District has received a $5 million state grant to help advance a sewer project intended to open up land for future development on the west side of Bloomington-Normal.

WGLT reported on April 6 that the money comes through Illinois’ Regional Site Readiness Program and will support the Northwest Interceptor Project. The project is described as Phase 1 of a larger sewer interceptor buildout along the west side of the Bloomington-Normal I-55/I-74 corridor.

According to state and local documents, the work would include about two miles of 36-inch and 48-inch pipe. The goal is to make the area more ready for future residential, commercial and industrial development.

The project has been in planning for some time. A Town of Normal council packet says BNWRD has been working on a northwest sewer expansion from north of the I-74/I-55 interchange to the wastewater treatment plant on West Oakland Avenue. Illinois EPA’s FY2026 loan priority list also includes the Northwest Interceptor and North Normal Pump Station project with a projected $40 million loan amount.

The grant fits into a broader state effort to fund site-readiness work that can help attract private investment. For the Bloomington-Normal area, the immediate impact is infrastructure: the sewer extension is intended to make west-side land more development-ready before new projects are built.

No construction start date was given in the initial reporting, but the award gives the district a major funding boost for the next phase of the project.