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In the News: St. Louis Dispatch March 9, 2023

Attorneys ask judge to rule that Cahokia Heights is violating Clean Water Act

Courtney Bowie, Managing Attorney, Northeast Office: “We don’t really need to go to trial over this. The court can just rule that the Clean Water Act has been violated, and we can just then focus on how to remedy that problem.”

document June 2, 2022

Open Letter: One Year Later and Still Waiting for Change

Creative and aggressive community-led solutions are needed to address water crises in the former Metro East communities of Centreville, Alorton, and Cahokia, but it’s difficult to see how these solutions will come about if the same local officials in charge of these failing systems remain at the center.

This photo provided by the executive director of Equity Legal Services in spring 2022 shows the pervasive flooding in Centreville. Equity Legal Services is one of several organizations representing residents in a legal challenge to address the sanitation crisis.
(Photo courtesy of Nicole Nelson)
Article June 2, 2022

One Year Later and Still Waiting for Change

Legal organizations demand action on Illinois sewage crisis

Lowndes County resident Jerome Means examines the failing wastewater sanitation system at his home in Hayneville, Ala. in 2019.
 (Julie Bennett / AP Photo)
Update November 12, 2021

In First, Justice Department Opens Environmental Justice Investigation

Alabama county officials lied to residents, most of whom are Black, about the prevalence of hookworm due to sewage mismanagement.

In the News: NBC News August 21, 2021

Raw sewage polluted this Black community. Now residents are fighting back.

Debbie Chizewer, Attorney, Midwest Office: “They literally have to start from the beginning.”

Danny Lane, right, gives his friend Walter Byrd a push, as Byrd prepares to head down a flooded Centreville street in June 2015. Firefighters evacuated residents earlier in the day.
(Robert Cohen / Post Dispatch / Polaris)
case July 22, 2021

Ending Sewage and Stormwater Flooding in Centreville

The community group Centreville Citizens for Change (represented by Earthjustice) and more than two dozen residents (represented by Equity Legal Services and the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council) sued Commonfields of Cahokia Public Water District and the City of Cahokia Heights in federal court, in response to years of raw sewage pollution…

document July 20, 2021

Centreville Citizens for Change CWA Lawsuit

Centreville Citizens for Change CWA Lawsuit against Commonfields of Cahokia Public Water District

Press Release July 20, 2021

Centreville Residents Sue Water Utility, City, Over Sewage and Stormwater Flooding

Residents’ homes, streets, damaged by raw sewage for decades

document April 23, 2021

60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue for Violations of the Clean Water Act

On behalf of Centreville Citizens for Change, we hereby notify Commonfields of Cahokia Public Water District (“Commonfields”) that Centreville Citizens for Change intends to commence a civil action under Section 505 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1365 for violations of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251, et seq.

In the News: Vice March 24, 2021

Vice News Tonight: Centreville

VICE News investigates Centreville, Illinois' failing drainage and sewer systems.

document July 17, 2020

Centreville Citizens for Change Informal Complaint to Illinois Pollution Control Board

This Informal Complaint was filed by the Metropolitan Equal Housing and Opportunity Council, Equity Legal Services, and Earthjustice on behalf of Centreville Citizens for Change.

Danny Lane, right, gives his friend Walter Byrd a push, as Byrd prepares to head down a flooded Centreville street in June 2015. Firefighters evacuated residents earlier in the day.
(Robert Cohen / Post Dispatch / Polaris)
Article July 17, 2020

In the Heartland, Human Waste Floods Homes

Centreville community members are pushing for solutions to this environmental injustice.

document February 20, 2020

Letter to Mayor of Centreville

Centreville community members sent a formal letter urging city leadership to meet with residents, and to detail its plans and timeline for addressing the failing sewage infrastructure.