Cahokia Heights, Illinois, has reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) over violations related to its sewer system operations. The city violated the Clean Water Act by failing to maintain its sewer system, so untreated sewage routinely flows into ditches, roads, yards, and homes. The raw sewage creates public health and environmental hazards.
In response to the municipality’s failure to make necessary repairs, a Joyce grantee, and then the DOJ and EPA, took legal action. The settlement with DOJ and EPA requires Cahokia Heights to invest $30 million in repairs and upgrades to its sewer infrastructure, and to pay a $30,000 penalty.
Joyce Grantee’s Role and Efforts
In 2020, the Joyce Foundation provided funding to Equity Legal Services, a nonprofit in the Metro East, to address the systemic water infrastructure failures in Cahokia Heights. The goal was to advocate on behalf of local residents to address the sewer problems and to highlight weaknesses in both state and federal water policy enforcement.
With support from Joyce and other funders, Equity Legal Services organized residents, documented the extent of the problem, raised awareness through the media and outreach to elected leaders, and pursued legal action against local officials and water utilities. To date, these efforts have resulted in over $37 million in state and federal grants to repair the infrastructure. Despite these grants, progress has remained slow, and homes continue to flood.
In response, the DOJ and EPA initiated an enforcement action, ultimately leading to the recent Consent Agreement, which provides cautious optimism for improvements. But meaningful change for residents will require local officials (with ongoing support from EPA) to take all the actions needed to address the causes and impacts of the sewage system failures. A timeline of key milestones included in the agreement outlines the path forward.
Joyce Foundation has invested $615,000 into this initiative. Other donors have provided additional support. This case has highlighted the need for changes in EPA’s clean water enforcement policies and how water infrastructure funding is allocated to disadvantaged communities. However, it’s clear that addressing such systemic failures—stemming from years of mismanagement and underfunding—remains a significant challenge. Other communities face similar struggles, and the Joyce Foundation will continue to explore policy solutions to address these widespread issues more effectively.
About The Joyce Foundation
Joyce is a nonpartisan, private foundation that invests in evidence-informed public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.