Westville water-system changes under review
WESTVILLE – Village officials said Tuesday that they are considering some major changes to the water system for the neighboring village of Belgium, which may include taking over ownership of its entire water system.
The village of Belgium is adjacent to the north border of Westville. Westville Village Board member Bill Cottrell said that although the ownership of the water mains in Belgium is in question – apparently neither village has documentation to prove which one owns the infrastructure – Westville has provided Belgium with water and maintained the water mains for years.
Westville village officials have stepped up their efforts in recent years to reduce spending in the water department by identifying and repairing water main leaks. Cottrell said one major leak in a line under Clark Street was losing the village hundreds of thousands of gallons of water each month – water the village of Westville was being charged for by its water supplier, Aqua Illinois of Danville.
While considering ways to identify "lost" water in the system, Westville officials' attention turned to the water system in Belgium.
About 100 of the 190 water meters in Belgium date back to the 1940s, even though their normal effective life is usually about 15 to 20 years, Cottrell said. Two of those older water meters were recently checked by Westville water and sewer department workers, and found to record only 30 percent of the water actually running through the meter.
While that may not paint a fair picture of the accuracy of the other 98 older water meters, Cottrell said, it certainly raised questions in Westville village officials' minds about whether Belgium water customers with older water meters are paying for the actual amount of water they use.
Cottrell said that Westville's water and sewer committee recently met and discussed increasing the amount charged to Belgium water customers to try to recoup the money that is likely not being charged to them currently.
Another option, which will probably be discussed at the next Belgium village board meeting, involves Belgium officially giving ownership of the water system to Westville.
Cottrell said he would like to see Westville take over the Belgium system. That would allow Westville to replace the 1940s-era water meters with newer, more accurate touch-read meters – at a cost of about $120 each – and would simplify the process of having Westville water and sewer workers read meters and make repairs to the water system in Belgium.
"I want to continue to sell water to Belgium," Cottrell said. "But I don't want to lose money in the process anymore."
Westville Mayor Jeff Ellis agreed, saying that both communities would benefit in the long run if Westville took over the ownership of the Belgium system.
In other business, the board voted to pay ERH Enterprises, Inc. of rural Danville up to $5,400 to remove roots from a severely blocked storm sewer that runs beneath the village's southeast side. Board member Sheldon Smith said two sections of the storm sewer – one about 1,000 feet long near Walnut Street and the other about 300 feet long between Illinois and Indiana streets – were clogged with roots, and needed to be cleared.
The board also voted to pay Joe Wise Contracting, Inc. of Westville up to $3,500 to dig down to a collapsed portion of storm sewer near the intersection of North Scott and North streets. Repairs to the storm sewer will be made after the collapsed portion is exposed.
The village board set Trick-or-Treating hours for between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Oct. 31.
The board doubled the residency requirement limit for all full-time village workers, from three miles to six miles outside the Westville village limits.
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