Find a plumber in Highland Park, Illinois
This city treats its own drinking water, and it floods from two directions. Tell us what is wrong and we hand it to a plumber licensed in Illinois who covers your street.
The short version
Most people looking for a plumber in Highland Park have one of two problems. Water is coming in, or water is not going out.
Where your house sits changes which one you get. Ravines cut across the city toward Lake Michigan, and plenty of houses sit on a ravine or bluff slope. Two inland rivers, the Skokie River and the Middle Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River, run south through town. The city writes separate rules for each side.
We are not a plumbing contractor. You describe the problem once, a person reads it, and it goes to a plumber licensed in Illinois who covers Highland Park.
What a Highland Park plumber has to deal with
- The city makes its own water.
Highland Park treats Lake Michigan water at the George B. Prindle plant on Park Avenue. The main intake is a 54 inch pipe about a mile offshore, in 30 feet of water. Source for The city makes its own water.
- It sells water to its neighbors.
The plant is rated at 30 million gallons a day and supplies Deerfield, Lincolnshire, Bannockburn, the Glenbrook Sanitary District and Fort Sheridan. Source for It sells water to its neighbors.
- Hardness.
A 2024 sample put total hardness at 140 ppm as calcium carbonate. Water at that level scales a tank heater over years rather than months. Source for Hardness.
- Lead and galvanized lines.
The city checked all 10,449 water services in 2024 and found 1,805 homes on a lead or a galvanized service line. Source for Lead and galvanized lines.
- Who owns the water line.
The city owns the pipe from the main to the b-box or meter pit in the right of way. You own it from there into the house. Source for Who owns the water line.
- Who owns the sewer lateral.
About 10,000 private sanitary laterals run from Highland Park houses to the city main, and each belongs to the property owner. Source for Who owns the sewer lateral.
- Money toward a lateral.
A voluntary city cost share pays up to 20 percent of lining or replacing a private lateral, or of a backflow device or overhead sewer, capped at $1,260. Single family homes only. Those were the terms as of September 2026, so confirm them with the city. Source for Money toward a lateral.
- Housing age.
The median Highland Park home was built in 1962, and 25.8 percent of the housing stock went up in 1939 or earlier. The county median is 1982. Source for Housing age.
Two flood maps, not one
Highland Park keeps its own floodplain map, and it is stricter than the FEMA one. It covers the low ground along the Skokie River and the Middle Fork. Separate rules, the Ravine and Bluff Regulations, cover the Lake Michigan Protection Zone on the lake side. In July 2017 more than four inches of rain fell on already soaked ground and flooded homes across the area.
What that means for the pump in your basement
A ravine lot and a river lot fail in different ways. Both end at the same pump. If yours runs and runs, trips the breaker, or hums without moving water, that is sump pump repair work. A second pump on a battery answers the storm that takes the power with it.
Keep the storm side and the sewer side apart
Storm and sanitary laterals here tie into separate city mains, and the city tells residents to have a licensed plumber confirm the two are not cross connected. For any addition or renovation of 50 square feet or more, Public Works dye tests the downspouts and sump pump drains before the building permit clears.
Clay and cast iron laterals of a certain age also crack and let roots in. Those calls start as a gurgling floor drain and end as sewer line repair and rodding. One slow sink is smaller, and drain cleaning is enough.
Highland Park water crosses the city line
The plant sells to its neighbors, so the same water lands in other kitchens. Plumbers in Deerfield work with water from here. Highland Park also trades emergency water with Lake Forest, so over that line start on the Lake Forest page.
The work people ask us about
Pick the one closest to your problem. If none fit, say so when you send a request.
- Emergency Plumber Burst pipes, sewer backups, and water you cannot stop.
- Sump Pump Repair and Installation Pumps that quit, run nonstop, or need a battery backup.
- Water Heater Repair and Installation No hot water, a leaking tank, or a move to tankless.
- Drain Cleaning Slow sinks, clogged tubs, and floor drains that back up.
- Sewer Line Repair and Rodding Root intrusion, camera inspections, and broken laterals.
- Water Softener Installation and Repair Hard water scale, salt problems, and new systems.
Questions Highland Park homeowners ask
Do I need a permit to replace a water heater in Highland Park?
Yes. The Building Division names it as the kind of simple permit it can often issue over the counter, and publishes a requirements sheet for it. Applications go through the city Civic Access Portal, and a water heater repair that becomes a swap crosses that line.
Can I do my own plumbing work here?
Only under two sets of rules. Illinois law lets the owner occupant of a single family home do that home's plumbing, if the work meets the state code and nobody but a licensed plumber helps. Highland Park adds a test. You must pass a city exam, 75 percent minimum with a three hour limit, before it issues a homeowner permit. The state runs a plumbing license verification lookup if you want to check somebody else's.
Does the city help pay to replace a lead service line?
Yes, for the private side. The city replaces the public portion from the main to the b-box, and its cost share helps cover the private portion when that part is lead or galvanized. Ask Public Works for the current terms.
Who treats the sewage, the city or somebody else?
The North Shore Water Reclamation District does. It is a separate taxing body, and one of its three plants sits inside Highland Park. The city owns the sanitary mains, and the lateral from your house to one is yours.
What to tell us
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Where the water is.
Under a sink, at the heater, at the floor drain, or coming up through the basement slab.
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What your street is near.
A ravine, the Skokie River, or neither. It changes what a plumber brings.
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How old the house is.
A guess is fine. It tells a plumber whether to expect galvanized pipe or clay under the yard.
Other towns we cover
Over a village line, this is the list.
Water in the basement again?
Send the details. A person reads every request. If we cannot place it with a licensed plumber who covers Highland Park, we tell you.
If it is urgent, do not wait on us. Call a local licensed plumber directly.