Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) has issued a letter (pdf) threatening to sue the city of Champaign over pollutants “discharges of pollutants into Boneyard Creek from an 8″ clay pipe drain line on City of Champaign property north of Skelton Park at Ash and Washington Streets.” (See “Location of Pipe” on map below.)
The letter states that the drain line discharges “various pollutants, including but not limited to benzene, ethyl benzene, dichlorobenzene, naphthalene, dissolved solids, turbidity and other coal tar related compounds from sources located on Champaign property(s).” The pipe is located several blocks west of the former manufactured gas plant at 5th and Hill streets. The suit alleges the city’s culpability because the pipe is located on city property.
The bigger issue is an ordinance established by the City of Champaign in 2007 prohibiting residents of the city from drilling private water wells for purposes of drinking water, but which the CCHCC claims was merely a method to let polluters off the hook. The Champaign City Council, at their Feb. 4 meeting, partially repealed the ordinance to avoid absolving Ameren in this case, but left the ordinance in place for future cases.
The News-Gazette and WILL have recently had pieces on this ongoing story.