|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Editorials
County should move quickly on loan request : Editorials : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisCounty should move quickly on loan request
| 10/25/2012
|
How would you feel if your neighbor was pumping raw sewage straight from his home into the storm drains by his house?
It's hard to believe in this day and age, but that's exactly what's been going on for decades in the tiny Village of Lisbon (estimated population: 250) in southern Kendall County where there is no public sanitary sewer plant.
Roughly half of the town's homeowners have their own septic systems or leach fields, but the other half have none. Their sewage goes into storm drain, which poses all kinds all kinds of potential public health risks.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) recently performed an inspection and water sampling of an unnamed stream near the discharge point of the village's storm drain system. Not surprisingly, the inspection revealed high fecal coliform concentrations in the receiving stream. As a result, the IEPA issued a violation notice to the village, which states "the village should cease discharge of untreated wastewater to the waters of the state."
Responding to the violation notice, village officials asked the Kendall County Board last week for a $420,000 loan to help finance the construction of a public sanitary sewer plant. The cost to construct the plant has been estimated at $2.8 million with annual operating costs of $43,188. To be sure that is a significant expense to the village's residents. However, much of the plant's cost could be financed through a combination of low interest loans from the U.S. EPA, state grants and other loans, which is where the county comes in.
Fortunately, county board members voiced support for the village's request and it appears the county and village should be able to negotiate a loan agreement.
From a financial standpoint, it appears Lisbon is fully prepared to payback a loan from the county. Iona Whitney, the village clerk, told the board the village currently has $400,000 in savings and no outstanding debts.
We hope both the village and county officials expedite those talks and move swiftly to approve a loan agreement so that a sewer treatment plant can be built as quickly as possible. The pumping of raw sewage into storm drains in Lisbon needs to stop for esthetic and, most importantly, public health reasons.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
