Streator to receive $954,000 grant for Liz Mar subdivision sewer

Streator soon will extend its sanitary sewer to 25 homes in the Liz Mar subdivision on the city’s east edge.

The city was awarded $954,525 from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s Unsewered Communities Construction Grant Program. The city was one of six communities in Illinois that received a portion of the estimated $21.05 million awarded.

Because of a high-water table and pooling in many of the homeowners’ yards, the septic tanks and leach fields were not able to operate properly. The project will extend sanitary sewer from the existing sewer main located on Main Street and consist of sanitary sewer and eight sanitary manholes. Connection of the service lines for each homeowner also will be covered by this grant.

The city received a $30,000 planning grant for the project from the Illinois EPA in 2020. That grant paid for the engineering work to precede installation.

This is the second of five planned funding rounds for this state program, which provides funding to areas in which there are currently no wastewater collection and/or treatment facilities. Under the Rebuild Illinois capital plan, the Illinois EPA is making $100 million available over five years through grants for the construction of wastewater collection and/or treatment facilities for such communities.

Streator was not the lone recipient in La Salle County.

The village of Rutland will receive $5 million. As a completely unsewered community, the village’s sanitary service is treated by septic tanks with effluent draining to drainage fields and field tiles, according to the governor’s office.

This project will connect 143 residents and buildings to the new collection system and treatment plant. The new sanitary sewer collection system will include two lift stations with standby power generators. The new treatment system will include an aerated lagoon with a third-stage filter.