These semi-permeable pavers used at the Westlake Shopping Center in Peoria can be one solution to reduce water runoff into Peoria's combined sewer system, located in older parts of the city.

By Joyce Blumenshine

The city of Peoria is expected to be seeing work begin in earnest this summer on the ‘green solutions’ for the many decades long city combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges of untreated sewage into the Illinois River. While the agreement with the U.S. EPA is to reduce the discharges by 92%, the completion date is listed as 2040.

The city will be adding rain gardens, permeable pavements, and other landscape and construction methods to hold back rainwater from the combined sewers. The Greater Peoria Sanitary District (GPSD) has agreed on ‘gray’ solutions work that will include improvements to maximize the flow of combined sewage from Peoria to its wastewater treatment plant, including cleaning its portion of the combined sewer system.  The GPSD is also to eliminate discharges from two remote treatment units within its sanitary sewer system by July 1, 2028.  GPSD’s work is to be fully completed by 2032.

More information is on the city website.