VILLAGE JOINS SUIT OVER CONTAMINATED WATER

By Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  Sauk Village appears to have joined a lawsuit filed by a group of residents who filed a class-action suit against Roadway Express, Inc, YRC Worldwide Inc, Ardadis US, Inc; Arcadis NV, and Lincoln Limited.  The Village does not appear to have joined the class action suit but is joining in with the residents’ action seeking their own “compensatory, punitive, and statutory damages” including legal fees and costs from all defendants.  Bernice Brewer-Houston, former mayoral candidate, is one of the residents in the class action against the defendants.

The Village claims in their action that the ground water contamination of chlorinated volatile organic compounds was first identified in the Village’s water supply, that services the 2874 residential customers, 61 business and 8 schools, was detected in February, 2008. 

The village, despite the fact that the known carcinogen was being detected in February, 2008 continued to pump water from the contaminated well #3 on adjacent to the Roadway property until May, 2009 took the well offline.  The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency stepped in and issued a Notice of Violation to the village on June 23, 2009 and the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit against the village for the violation. 

In November, 2009, concentrations of vinyl choloride continue to increase and now tests confirmed that wells #1 and #2 on Sauk Trail were now contaminated as well according to the suit.  The Village continued to pump the contaminated water to the residents and businesses until the Attorney General along with the IEPA stepped in in July, 2012 and ordered the Village to provide bottled drinking water to residents since testing confirmed the concentrations of vinyl chloride had risen to 2.50 ug/l in well #1. 

The Village indicates in their suit that they incurred costs for the emergency temporary air strippers in 2012, and the residents will get socked with a $5.3 million price tag over a 20 year period in order to bring the groundwater standards up to safe drinking levels according to the suit.

The suit filed by the village claims that “beginning in 1989, Roadway Express reported a leaking underground storage tank(UST)”.  The village also claims that “between 1989 and 2005, Roadway Express reported six leaking UST incidents to the Illinois EPA.  Roadway Express on its site reported a spill/release of approximately 55-gallons of Tricholorethene (chlorinated solvent) in 2001.  Roadway Express documented the presence of non-petroleum contamination (including chlorinated solvents) on the property dating back to as early as 1993”.

The village contends that “Roadway Express Property has a history of non-petroleum soil contamination”.  “Between 1997 and 2002, Roadway Express reported seven ERNS (emergency response notification system) spills to the United States EPA.  The source of the spills include 15-gallons of hydrazine (1997), 5-gallons of hydrazine (1998), 5-gallons of hydrazine (1998), 30-gallons of fuel oil (1999), 90-gallons of diesel fuel (2000), 55-gallons of trichloroethylene (2001), and 37-gallons of xylene (2002).  No further information on these spills was supplied by the United States EPA or the Illinois EPA, which suggests these spills are open, uninvestigated, and considered environmental violations for the property”.

The village also states in the suit that “Roadyway Express reportedly maintained a waste pit on this property where leaking and damaged containers are placed to drain into the soil and eventually the ground water beneath the site”. 

“In June, 2008, the IEPA advised YRC and Roadway Express that it would only issue no further remediation letters regarding their leaking underground storage tank if no water under the Roadway Express property would be used as potable water.  Sauk Village’s Well 3 is located on the Roadway Express Property” according to the suit filed.

In addition to Roadway and YRC, the Village names Lincoln Landfill located in nearby Ford Heights, less than a ½ mile from the Village’s Well 3 as a defendant in their suit claiming the dump was operated without a valid permit from the Illinois EPA and “has disposed of hazardous materials in its landfill”.  Also that the landfill operators have “done nothing to prevent hazardous materials to enter the soil and migrate into the water…. And…contributed to the contamination of the Sauk Village water source.”

The Village claims negligence, trespass and nuisance against YRS, Roadway , Arcadis, Lincoln Landfill and demands “trial by jury for all causes herein so triable(sic)”.

Residents of Sauk Village passed a referendum in March, 2012 to abandon the wells and transition to Lake Michigan water, however, the costs to make the necessary infrastructure improvements have proven almost unattainable in the short term.  The Village never-the-less increase water rates from $3.50 per 1000 gallons of water to $7.50 per $1000 gallons of water to cover the increased costs the village will have with the loan the IEPA gave the village for the permanent air strippers.  Many residents, including Houston contend that the administration of Mayor David Hanks have used the water funds to balance the budget and not made the necessary improvements that the water rate increase was intended.