The Wood River, Illinois, city council last week passed a resolution to separate the city’s combined sewer system, and it’s hoping to receive federal funding to help with the job. More specifically, the resolution allows the city to seek a permit from the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction, to begin work.
The decades-old sewer system doesn’t have the capacity to handle heavy rains, and flooding has become more frequent with water backing up into homes during every sizable storm. The planned project will both increase the pipe diameter and will route stormwater to a retention pond rather than to a treatment plant.
Last week, in a discussion of Atlanta’s sewer and water fees, I asked whether federal money should be used to fund local projects. Many projects, of course, do receive both federal and state funding—or federal money through a state revolving loan fund, perhaps. In this case, the city hopes to receive about $8 million, but the mayor is promising the project will go ahead whether the city receives federal funding: “It may take a little longer to do,” he concedes.