For over 70 years Crawford, Murphy & Tilly (CMT) has understood the importance of clean water, particularly the water we use on a daily basis for drinking, bathing, cooking and other daily needs. Potable water (water that is suitable for drinking) is the world’s most precious resource and our committed water professionals have internalized this philosophy and have dedicated their careers to the continuous improvement of water infrastructure.
CMT has built upon its early years and has served several municipalities with planning, engineering and construction to support the supply, treatment and distribution of water. The firm’s early work dotted the Illinois prairie with elevated tanks, dams and treatment plants.
Responding to client needs, CMT excelled in water treatment plant solutions that met water quality goals and reduced operational costs. In the early 1980s, CMT designers brought together innovative concepts and designs that not only helped the firm’s clients, but also became industry standards still serving water treatment plants around the country. With an emphasis on natural hydraulics instead of costly mechanical processes, CMT’s staff developed and introduced alternatives such as the ClariCone® and other related components including decelerating flo-filters, helical downflow ozone contactors, and ribbon flow tanks. Award-winning solutions have been a trademark of our design teams who have continued to adapt and modify these, and other new technologies (such as membrane filtration), to provide highly customized solutions for our clients.
We’ve had many long-term clients over the last 70 years. For example, CMT has provided water consulting and engineering to Springfield, IL’s city-owned utility, City Water, Light & Power (CWLP) since 1956. Over the years we have assisted in addressing ongoing water supply needs for the City. Our partnership has helped CWLP navigate new regulations while increasing capacity and efficiencies through innovative technologies., recently culminating in an award-winning $50 million Waterworks Improvement Project, the City’s largest to date, that modernized the plant’s pumping infrastructure, clearwells and lake intakes.
It was in the late 70s that CMT expanded northward. During this time, CMT helped some of the larger suburban areas of Chicago map out their futures by providing water distribution modeling services. Then, during the 1990s, CMT assisted the City of Aurora (now Illinois’ second largest City) through its growing years. We designed all the city’s deep wells, shallow wells, well houses, storage tanks, pump stations, well collector mains and transmission mains as well as countless miles of distribution water mains and the water treatment plant. The unique design of the City’s 28 MGD water plant responded to the high level of flexibility needed to treat three (3) water sources. CMT’s design for the plant, as well as the quality of water itself, was recognized with various awards.
Throughout our history, we’ve proven we can work well with both small municipal clients and large clients – as well as the full range in between. Large clients like the Chicago Department of Water Management benefit from the full range of expertise CMT brings to address water treatment needs; currently drawing upon the expertise to provide solutions to unique structural challenges that are involved in CMT’s current project to renovate Lake Michigan water intake cribs. Another client is the City of St. Louis where we are currently updating pumping facilities at its water treatment plants.
At CMT, we are constantly working together to improve our clients’ ability to manage their water resources. From planning to engineering, construction, operations support and program management, our services cover the full life-cycle of water resource assets. We understand water is never created; it is constantly in cycle, and at no point does it become unimportant.