Sewer Project: Updates & Documentation
In November 2024, the City of Cahokia Heights signed a Consent Decree with the United States and State of Illinois. The Consent Decree was lodged with the U.S. District Court for theSouthern District of Illinois on December 10, 2024. The Consent Decree is a legally binding agreement between the City and the regulators, overseen by the court, that resolves alleged violations of the Clean Water Act for sanitary sewer overflows, or SSOs, from Cahokia Heights’ sanitary sewer system.
As part of the Consent Decree, Cahokia Heights will be implementing a variety of actions and improvement projects to address conditions that are currently causing SSOs. The remedial work agreed to as part of the Consent Decree will be conducted in two phases involving investigations and evaluations of sewer system conditions and repairs to the sewer system. In Phase I, among other things, the City will complete more than 80 repair and replacement projects to sewer lines and lift stations by the end of 2026, and will construct a new interceptor sewer to redirect sanitary flow in the northern part of Cahokia Heights away from overloaded sewers owned by East St. Louis by the end of 2028. Cahokia Heights will also implement a pilot program to reduce inflow and infiltration into the sewer system by repairing privately owned lateral sewer lines within the boundaries of the Tax Increment Financing District of the former City of Centreville. Phase II will build upon the repair work and investigations completed during Phase II will build upon the repair work and investigations completed during Phase I
