Marseilles seeks $1 million grant to repair crumbling sewers

A little foresight several years ago is proving to be a great asset for the city of Marseilles today.

The Marseilles City Council on Wednesday approved an agreement to seek a grant that will help the city place a plastic lining within its cracked and deteriorating more than 100-year-old sewers to brace from the inside streets that no longer can support heavy machinery or do any drilling.

City Engineer Mike Etscheid said that several years ago the city was considering resurfacing some of its streets in 2023, when it had the foresight to spend $35,000 to have a televising system that could enter the sewers and pipes and send back videos of any potential problems.

What those cameras found were many cracks and crumbling clay pipes along Bluff Street, and it had to dig up the street before spending its money for resurfacing.

“Obviously, we didn’t want to put a couple $100,000 into the street and then have to tear them up again the next week,” Etscheid said. “We told the televising guy what we were doing, and he wrote us a big, long letter saying not to do it, that the pipes were so cracked that the cameras could cause the pipes to crumble.

“The thing is, the [Environmental Protection Agency] is asking us to comply with 2025 standards with pipes and sewers that are 125 years old. … We’re really glad we were proactive in doing this. We can get those pipes fixed, then we can fix the roads.”

And that project is what brought North Central Illinois Council of Governments project manager Blaire Krickl to Marseilles, so she could outline the sewer replacement project and provide information about a Community Development Block Grant issued through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

She called the threat to public health and safety “imminent,” as a cave-in could spread raw sewage in public areas.

Etscheid described the lining to be used as a material similar to PVC pipe that is inserted into the crumbling pipe, unfolded and then drenched with hot water, causing the plastic to chemically adhere to the inside of the pipe and support it from within.

The CDBG grant, Krickl said, draws from a pool of $19.5 million with a maximum to any one community being $1 million, the amount requested by Marseilles. The deadline to apply is Dec. 4, and it likely will be awarded in March or April.

The Marseilles project will consist of lining 2,620 feet of sanitary sewer along Illinois and Aurora streets. Broken down, that is 460 feet of 8-inch pipe from Chicago to Liberty streets, 460 feet of 10-inch pipe from Liberty to Water streets, and 1,420 feet of 12-inch pipe from Water Street to Aurora Street along Illinois Street.

There also will be 280 feet of 18-inch pipe from Illinois Street to Broadway Street and along Aurora Street, and along the way will rehabilitate 84 feet of sanitary manholes in those areas.

In other action, the council:

• heard from Commissioner Jim Buckingham that the city will be purchasing 25 wreaths to be put at the Middle East Conflicts Memorial Wall in accordance with “Wreaths Across America” on Saturday, Dec. 14. The ceremony in Marseilles will take place at 11 a.m. that day.
• approved a special event permit for the Holiday Magic Santa Parade for Dec. 7.
• approved a payment of $528,525 to Conley Excavating for the Broadway Park renovation project.