Illinois announces $1M for unsewered communities’ planning

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $1 million in grant awards to help develop plans for wastewater collection and treatment solutions for unsewered communities.

Illinois has more than 200 "unsewered" communities that lack wastewater collection and/or treatment systems. Many of these communities have patchwork systems or decades-old underground "wildcat" pipes that illegally discharge to surface waters. While a lack of planning capacity is often a significant initial barrier for these communities, the biggest hurdle remains the lack of local revenue to invest in the construction and long-term operations and maintenance of modern collection and/or treatment facilities.

The funding distributed through the Unsewered Communities Planning Grant Program will help small and disadvantaged communities to develop project plans for wastewater collection and treatment.

"Proper wastewater collection and treatment is important for the health and welfare of Illinois' communities," said Illinois EPA Director John Kim. "This grant program was created to assist those communities with the initial funding to develop a formal plan to address the wastewater needs, which could ultimately lead to them submitting an application for an Unsewered Communities Construction Grant from Illinois EPA."

Information from the Project Plans may also be used to apply for a grant from the Unsewered Communities Construction Grant Program (UCCGP), which was also announced by Illinois EPA in September 2020. Over the next five years, Illinois EPA UCCGP is making $100 million available through Governor Pritzker's bipartisan Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan for construction of wastewater collection and/or treatment facilities.

The grant recipients are as follows: