Summary of the Centreville Sewage Crisis

Centreville is a small city of about 5,000 people and 5 square miles, located in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is the poorest city in the state of Illinois as well as one of the poorest cities in the nation, with a poverty rate nearing 50%. And it has a population that is about 96% Black.

It is these characteristics that make it no surprise that Centreville has suffered one of the most egregious and longstanding environmental justice and public health issues that we’ve known. Since the 1980s, pump stations that are designed to pump sewage away from homes and neighborhoods have barely functioned, leading raw sewage to flood into streets and homes. In 2009, the Illinois EPA ruled that Harding Ditch, which drains the flood plain on which Centreville sits, contained hazardous levels of fecal coliform, making it an open sewer.

The residents of Centreville fear for their safety, needing to be rescued by boats during the flooding. They fear for their health, suffering respiratory issues and other diseases due to the sewage. They fear for their financial well-being, becoming further entrenched in poverty as the flooding damages their homes and possessions.

But beyond the physical and health damages, the sewage crisis is one of human dignity and morale. Resident Mike Johnson, states, “People don’t realize the toll it all takes — not being able to flush your toilet, embarrassment when friends visit, the constant smell, the dirt and rust on your car, watching where you step when you walk, having all the money you’ve invested in your house disappear, feeling trapped, feeling like you let down your family, trying to encourage your children to see a bright future.”

Not only do residents want to stay in their homes due to emotional attachment from decades of living and raising family there, but keeping their homes is important to build up generational wealth, something that Black Americans have been denied due to pervasive institutional discrimination. Most of these residents have put their life savings into their homes, which are now worth little to nothing, also resulting in an inability to move.