March 29, 2024
Local News | Bureau County Republican


Local News

Down the drain ...

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DALZELL — The village of Dalzell is asking people to flush only toilet paper and human waste down their toilets, after four sewage pumps went down in less than a month.

Trustee Joe Tonozzi said the pumps all went down within a short time and were filled with non-biodegradable material such as baby wipes, towels and other items.

“It was just jam packed with this material,” Tonozzi said.

Tonozzi has spent many hours trying to correct the problem when half of the village’s pumps went down nearly at the same time. He was forced to make emergency decisions to make sure the pumps were back online in a timely manner.

If people don’t stop putting inappropriate items in the toilet, then it could eventually end up backing into their home. The material flows through the pipes and gets stuck inside the pumps. This causes the engines to work harder and either eventually lock up or burn out.

“We can’t continue at the pace without putting the city and residents in peril,” Tonozzi said.

He approved the emergency expenditure of $1,773 to repair one of the pumps. The board also approved purchasing a smaller backup pump for $1,685, purchasing another full-size pump for $5,145, another for $4,210, and authorized modification of an existing pump and railing for $1,388.

These costs are just for parts and don’t include labor. Tonozzi said that if this continues, and the village has to keep paying for pump repair and placement, residents will end up seeing their water rates increased.

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