Today’s must-read
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Janelle O’Dea at the Illinois Answers Project…
[Cahokia Heights] is among five dozen communities in Southern Illinois and the Metro East that account for a third of sanitary sewer overflows reported to the state of Illinois within the last decade, according to data from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Unless authorized by a permit, sewer overflows into U.S. waters are violations of the U.S. Clean Water Act, which the Illinois EPA enforces. […]
As of 2020 when an engineering report on sewer repairs was completed, Cahokia Heights needed to repair or replace at least 800 feet of sewer pipes, six sections of water main, 19 fire hydrants, eight lift stations, and more than 50 pump stations according to grant applications submitted the following year.
The estimated cost: more than $24 million.
A third of the majority-Black population of Cahokia Heights lives below the poverty line. The community’s median household income is $37,975 — less than half of the state’s median.
Infrastructure repairs are just crazy expensive in this country, partly because of the paperwork…
When applying for a grant, cities have to provide information about how the money will be spent and preparing those plans isn’t cheap. For example, preliminary engineering on two parts of the sewer system over the last two years cost the city more than $400,000, according to invoices from Hurst-Roche, a Hillsboro-based engineering firm.
* And in this case, they may be throwing good money after bad…
The sewer system in Cahokia Heights as a whole is still broken and the overflows happen despite repairs. Attorneys with Equity Legal Services, who represent citizens of Cahokia Heights in multiple lawsuits, said residents report that repairs are made but fail within weeks or months.
Other repairs made flooding worse in some residents’ yards and houses.
Last summer during a storm, Norris’ house was surrounded by water for six weeks, and another resident was without hot water for over two weeks after the flood destroyed her hot water tank, according to the complaint filed by attorneys. Within a week, St. Clair County, where Cahokia Heights is located, was declared a disaster zone by the U.S. government.
Lots, lots more, so go read the rest.
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Jun 17, 25 @ 1:58 pm:
Lower taxes for the wealthy are clearly the answer to this and other problems. /s
It takes a lot of money to build and maintain public infrastructure. While it’s easy to blame individual communities, this is a much broader problem (the pollution flows downstream and the associated health concerns impact the broader community as well). We should all be willing to pay more in taxes to help ensure everyone has a clean and safe environment. It is sad that we as a country are so resistant to spending for these concerns while dumping bucketloads of money on military spending. Environmental issues have a significant impact that far exceeds what we seem to be willing to pay to address them.
- Frida's Boss - Tuesday, Jun 17, 25 @ 2:25 pm:
Wasn’t Senator Belt the Superintendent for the Cahokia Heights Water and Sewer District as a Senator? Couldn’t ARPA money have helped with this? They were looking for life safety projects. I’m guessing drinking fecal water would qualify under that metric of need?
- very old soil - Tuesday, Jun 17, 25 @ 2:49 pm:
how many homes? A buy-out may be the cheapest long-term solution. what are the soils like? High water table?
- Cool Papa Bell - Tuesday, Jun 17, 25 @ 2:55 pm:
=Three quarters of the reports cite heavy rain or snow melt — or stormwater — as causes.=
We have a major housing crisis on our hands.
There aren’t enough places for people to live, there are too many places where people live that they shouldn’t have too or need too.
Weather is only going to make those areas harder and harder to stay in.
It’s time to really consider buying out homes or even small communities and getting folks somewhere better. Small towns like these with massive infrastructure bills coming do - how are they ever going to pay for it? And is it worth it for the rest of us to foot the bill? We may need to get people to start thinking differently.