Cahokia Heights has completed Phase 1 of repairing its sewer trunk line. It involved cleaning and repairing about 3.25 miles of the Metro East city’s aging, 9-mile sewer line.
The repairs come after repeated pleas from residents, whose homes and streets frequently flood with sewage, making them sick and sometimes requiring evacuation. The funding included $3.5 million in federal money secured by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, and $9.9 million from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
“This community has been devastated so many times by flooding,” Durbin said at a press conference on Friday. “It’s time the residents stopped having that worry, and this is an important first step.”
Mayor Curtis McCall expressed his gratitude for the senator’s help in funding the project.
“Our United States Sen. Dick Durbin never forgot about St. Clair County,” McCall said.
Durbin, originally from East St. Louis, announced in April that he will retire when his term is over in January 2027.
“Today is bittersweet for me in our city,” McCall said of Durbin’s retirement. “Because we are losing not only a friend, but a partner when it comes to funding for the state of Illinois.”
Repairs to the city’s sewer and water system are far from over. St. Clair County received $30 million in federal disaster relief funding in April, $10 million of which is allocated for stormwater drainage improvements in Cahokia Heights’ heavily impacted Piat Place neighborhood. McCall said St. Clair County has the money, and once he completes some paperwork, it will be given to the city.
More than $50 million still needs to be found to complete current plans for sewer system, drinking water, drainage and other planned repair projects, said Jim Nold, senior project manager at engineering firm Hurst Rosche. Nold’s firm is designing the project for the city.
Nold, who has worked for Hurst Rosche for five decades, said this is the first time he has seen a significant interest in helping the area.
“I personally, and we as a firm, have never seen this kind of investment in infrastructure. Ever, ” Nold said.
The federal funding secured so far has been funneled through the Army Corps of Engineers, which continues to collaborate with the city on further projects. Col. Andy Pannier of the Army Corps said Phase 2 of the trunk line project is in progress.
“We’ll define success as the day that the sewer department and the street department don’t have to get up on a rainy night because they got a phone call to come out and pump water,” Pannier said.
The employees of the city’s Water and Sewer and Street departments are currently in charge of working to prevent flooding when it rains.
Durbin said the timeline of completion for the various projects depends on securing federal, state and local funding.
“Here’s the good news: We’re committed,” Durbin said. “There have been a lot of broken promises in the past, and I don’t think that’s going to happen here.”
