SV faces sewer woes
SPRING VALLEY — A father and son attended Monday’s Spring Valley City Council meeting to see just what the city plans to do about the erupting sewage and sliding hillside near their Gallagher Street homes.
“All summer, sitting by the pool in my backyard, I could smell sewage,” Todd Schmollinger said. “I’m tired of smelling sewage.”
According to City Engineer Jack Kusek, the whole problem began three or four months ago.
“We knew something was up because we kept getting a lot of silt and mud at the treatment plant,” he said.
The treatment plant is used to receiving sludge, but mud is a sign of a broken pipe. City workers started looking for the problem and found it about three or four weeks later, a huge sinkhole near Lester Schmollinger’s property.
“That’s a huge puddle,” said Todd Schmollinger, who lives next door to his father. “That’s three or four cars long, and it’s 30 yards from my house.”
Efforts to fix the hole causing the sinkhole were unsuccessful.
Kusek said the sinkhole formed when the sewer pipe that ran underground collapsed, and literally sucked the mud and fill into the pipe. Eventually clogs formed, and they led to the Schmollingers’ next problem.
“The sewage that’s coming down from above doesn’t have anywhere to go, so it’s going to go up and over, or it’s going to find its path of least resistance,” Kusek said.
For the Schmollingers, that path has caused manholes to spew sewage every time there’s an inch or more of rain.
Kusek said fixing the problem was beyond the capabilities of city workers, so the city contracted with Pohar and Sons of LaSalle. Pohar found the hole in the pipe about 30 feet underground, and started to make repairs.
“As they were excavating back to give themselves enough room, they noticed the next section of pipe was also broken,” Kusek said.
And the next section, and the next section, and the next ...
“They had six pipes exposed, and they still hadn’t found a good one,” Kusek said.
Kusek said the city has already spent $30,000 to $40,000, and is looking at least $300,000 more.
Fortunately, the city has been awarded a $750,000 Flex Fund grant through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, but the funds have not yet been released. Kusek has verified the funds are still coming but can’t confirm exactly when.
That causes a problem for the Schmollingers. DCEO’s policy requires the department’s approval before the city or municipality can spend any money, which means the city can’t do any more work on the problem until the funds are released.
City officials are eager to begin work on the repairs. In addition to the sinkhole and broken and clogged sewer pipe, there are also deep cracks running through Coal Mine Park, located on the other side of Gallagher Street.
Schmollinger said a portion of hill had actually moved down.
“It looks like whole hill is ready to go,” he said. “If that comes down, we’re looking at some trouble.”
Kusek said the hill is made of mine slag.
“This material is very erodible,” he said. “It’s not very stable, and it slides easily.”
Aldermen and Mayor Cliff Banks urged Kusek to continue to pursue the issue of the grant and discussed how long the city could wait until being forced to take action.
But for Schmollinger, he and his father just want the problem fixed.
“This has been going on a long time, and we want to get moving in the right direction,” he said.
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