Bloomington and Normal Water Reclamation District

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.

In an effort to modernize wastewater treatment, the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District [BNWRD] and Illinois State University’s Center for a Sustainable Water Future are forming a partnership to bring green infrastructure directly to Twin City residents.

Water and sewer are the most basic things a city typically provides. Through a complicated cluster of circumstances, neither of those services is dependable in a subdivision on the east side of Bloomington. And it's not at all clear how that will change.

The Town of Normal wants a homeless encampment removed by the end of the month.

The City of Bloomington is getting a $600,000 state grant to build a green infrastructure park near to the community sewage treatment plant on the west side of town. It's the Sunnyside Park Sustainability Initiative.

The Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District plans to borrow $31.5 million for the next two phases of a major renovation to its sewage treatment plant in west Bloomington.

We might have an answer to the pungent question in Central Illinois of late: Just what is that awful smell? It's likely a phenomenon called petrichor, according to a state climatologist.

The Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District plans to increase its tax levy next year by just under 5%.

A potential huge cost looms for drinking water producers — so-called forever chemicals or PFAS. Bloomington and Normal water departments expect regulation will eventually require removal of PFAS.

A plastics recycler in Bloomington now appears to be complying with Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District efforts to find out what was going on at the site on South Bunn Street, between Croxton and Bell.