Work by the city of Cahokia Heights to address floodwater and sewage that regularly spills into homes from failing infrastructure has not solved the problems and in some cases has made them worse, residents argue in their latest court filing in the ongoing fight with officials over repairs.
Heavy rain infiltrates the sewers and forces them to overflow.
“Every time it rains, we brace ourselves for disaster,” resident Yvette Lyles stated in a news release about the court filing Wednesday. “It’s not just water — it’s sewage. It’s sickness. It’s hopelessness.”
Cahokia Heights Mayor Curtis McCall Sr. could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. McCall also was not available for requested interviews about the city’s progress on projects earlier this month on Nov. 8 and Nov. 14.
Residents say the community’s problems are especially pronounced where Lyles lives in the northern area of the former city of Centreville, now part of Cahokia Heights. They formed Centreville Citizens for Change to advocate for solutions.
Residents from the group filed two federal lawsuits in 2020 and 2021 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois seeking to force local officials to fix the decades-long infrastructure issues.
Judge David Dugan stayed the cases at the beginning of this year because the city argued it was working with state and federal environmental protection agencies to address the problems with the sewer system, as required by a U.S. EPA order from 2021.
Dugan requires the city to submit periodic updates to the court on its progress and allows residents to respond to the accuracy and adequacy of what it reports.
Residents argued in a filing this month that fixes described in the city’s updates have not stopped flooding or sewers from backing up and overflowing. In some cases, they say, the repairs are backfiring.
The residents are asking Dugan to lift the stay on their claims for damages and claims related to flooding issues. They say the city’s work with environmental protection agencies, which prompted the stay, is limited to the sewer system and will not address their flooding concerns or requested relief.
The city stated in its latest update from September that 16 sewer projects had been completed, another 30 projects were in progress, and it continues seeking state and federal grants to help pay for future work. But it acknowledged that sewer overflows would continue to happen during rain events while work is ongoing.
It listed 11 sewer overflows that happened between April 27 and Aug. 8 as examples and stated that it generally responds by pumping ponded water, disinfecting and cleaning up debris.
Residents allege in their Nov. 12 filing that they have seen city officials spread sewage water around open fields near their homes instead of cleaning it up, creating a foul smell and causing health concerns.
They also criticized delays in addressing an ongoing sewage overflow problem on North 82nd Street beside one of the plaintiff’s house. Residents allege that it spilled continuously for more than a month from April 27 to May 28. It began spilling again on Nov. 5, their court filing states.
The city’s September update stated that it planned to address the North 82nd Street overflows with an interim fix until a permanent solution is completed. That would include installing backflow prevention devices at nearby homes and a portable pump to redirect the discharge away from occupied properties. Those plans remained under review by the EPA, according to the city’s report.
Residents say the interim measures have not been implemented as of their Nov. 12 court filing.
They also point to an issue with a backflow prevention device that the city installed in February at plaintiff Cornelius Bennett’s home. Their court filing states that during hard or consistent rainfall, the top of the backflow preventer pops off due to the pressure of the system and sewage sprays out. Bennett keeps a brick on top of the preventer to stem the flow of spilling sewage.
“This underscores the importance of community-wide solutions,” the filing states. “A single backflow preventer may prevent sewage from escaping the sewer system at one particular location, but it can also exacerbate surcharge conditions upstream.”
Residents have further concerns about some of the city’s efforts to address flooding. The city reported that it installed a “new power service and inlet with an automatic pump” in the Piat Place neighborhood of the former Centreville. Residents say it was not working during severe flooding on Nov. 5, and the city brought in trucks to pump the water out of streets and yards instead.
They also say the city’s efforts to perform street grading in response to flooding has made the situation worse for some residents.
During heavy rain on Nov. 5, the gravel the city trucked in for the street filled the ditches and caused more flooding by blocking the stormwater drainage path, according to a plaintiff who lives on Bluff Avenue. That plaintiff also alleges through the court filing that city equipment used to perform street grading got stuck in a ditch and left deep tread marks that filled with water, creating more flooding in the plaintiff’s yard.
Another resident on 84th Street is also experiencing more flooding in their yard and garage after the city’s work in that area, the court filing states.
“The City’s actions taken to date to address stormwater flooding have been wholly insufficient, and allowing Defendants to continue down this path will only lead to more severe flooding and many more sanitary sewer overflows that put the community at immense risk,” the filing states in support of its argument to partially lift the stay.
Residents are also pressing the city to deploy immediate measures to stop sewage spills and protect their health, according to the news release.
“The residents of Cahokia Heights are not asking for luxuries — they are fighting for their basic right to live in safety and dignity,” resident lawyer Nicole Nelson stated in the release.
Officials working for the city and EPA have said in response to questions about the timeline for repairs that accessing government funding is a process that involves getting approval from the agency that’s going to write the check.
Editor's note: This story was originally published by the Belleville News-Democrat. Lexi Cortes is a reporter for the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
