Residents of the Colonial Meadows subdivision nestled in the shadow of the Central Illinois Regional Airport have some good news about their water and sewer problems.
McLean County Board member Corey Beirne said there's movement on replacing aging septic systems in the 84 homes of the unincorporated subdivision next to Bloomington.
“A new planning grant has been approved, and the next steps in the planning for an addition of sewer lines and infrastructure upgrades have been approved. We're very, very excited about that,” Beirne said a Thursday's county board meeting.
The $30,000 Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Unsewered Community Grant partially offsets the $50,000 cost of work by the Farnsworth Group to prepare a formal sewer planning study and survey of the best location to run the sewer and connect to the existing city sewer on Oakland Avenue.
Trustees for the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District [BNWRD] on Monday approved spending $176,000 for a formal design of the system in Colonial Meadows, said BNWRD executive director Tim Ervin.
“This will include the underground pipes and the addition of a pump station to serve the 84 homes within the subdivision. This will bring the project to a shovel ready status and is scheduled to be complete by February 2026,” said Ervin.
The design money is coming from BNWRD capital funds used to maintain and construct underground infrastructure. Sewer user fees and property taxes fund the capital fund, said Ervin.
The entire project cost could top $4 million.
Local legislators, McLean County, and the district will continue to monitor and apply for other sources of grant funds to eventually construct and connect residents to a new sewer system, said Ervin.
Discolored and bad tasting well water is still a problem. The city of Bloomington has said it is willing to sell bulk water to the private well company for the subdivision.
“We are still open to providing bulk water to the subdivision via a third-party purchaser," said Deputy City Manager Sue McLaughlin. "There has been some renewed interest from such entities, but no updates or progress,”
