OTTAWA – By this time next year, the Environmental Protection Agency will begin closing off one of four sewers discharging into the Illinois River in Ottawa. Due by August 2020, the EPA has prioritized closing off a combined sewer located on 1st and prospect Avenue, According to contractors, Renwick and Associates. The city passed a resolution authorizing an engineering and construction agreement with Renwick to continue Ottawa’s Long Term Control Plan. The contractors will be involved in disconnecting roadway inlets from combined sewers and give them their own storm sewer to discharge to. Once that is completed, all combined sewer will become a dedicated sanitary sewer and sanitary flows will taken to the waste water treatment plant. The EPA prioritized three more sewer closures along the Illinois River, two near Ottawa High School and one east of Allen Park. No residents will be displaced during the project.
