Re: Latest MESD News Reporting on KMOV Archived Message
Posted by Hard Core on December 10, 2019, 12:42 pm, in reply to "Re: Latest MESD News Reporting on KMOV"
From the Mayor of the village of Pontoon Beach... "Pontoon residents; lately I have seen posts and news paper articles on how MESD saved Pontoon from flooding because they lowered the levels at Horseshoe lake and the same with Granite City. And now these law suits with Granite City from MESD about the recent flood in GC. Horseshoe lake takes all the water from Granite City and Pontoon Beach then it gets dumped into Cahokia Creek that flows to the East St. Louis pumping station. When the Mississippi River is low it simply gravity flows into the river. When the river is at flood stage the water has to be pumped over the levy with the availability of 4 pumps. Now these pump are huge and I was told that with all 4 running they could drain Horseshoe lake. In 2015, when Pontoon Beach was flooded for weeks, we believe not all these pumps were active however that is water under the bridge, no pun intended! You have to ask yourself were these pumps running at the first drop of rain that morning GC flooded? They should have been in my opinion. After the 2015 flood, which basically drove long lake out of its banks the Village needed to try and do something. Keep in mind that long lake is a private lake. Everybody that lives on the lake owns a part of it so the Village cannot go on private property and do any work with tax payers dollars. What the Village did was borrow over a half million dollars to install a 54” conduit from long lake across 162 to basically get the water out of long lake faster and install a new box culvert across Old Edwardsville road. The old box culvert which was an old boiler was installed by MESD back in the 40s and should have been their responsibility to replace it but they declined so the Village took on the cost. The new system seems to be working good. That cost was huge for the Village. The Village has to pay that money back at 70K for the next 6-7 years out of our motor fuel tax. Not one time did MESD mention that. Not one time did they mention the Village doing their part. All they are trying to do is take credit for lowering a lake which in my opinion does nothing but make the hunters and fisherman mad and then they told the employees at the lake to just call the Mayor of Pontoon and Granite City if there are complaints about the level of the lake. This was not our decision at all and should be the decision of the IDNR but seems that MESD is making the decision now. Also everybody that lives in the bottoms pay taxes into MESD for our water. During large rains we get all the water from the bluffs meaning, Edwardsville, Collinsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, etc. All of their water flows down Cahokia creek. When the water gets to Horseshoe Lake there are 2 valves that let our water out. During these large rains those valves cannot be opened fully because it will flood the pump house in East St. Louis because all the water coming off of the bluffs is coming down at such a force that we basically trickle out until that water is gone. That is a fact. Now here is the complaint. All of those cities that send their water down that creek pay nothing into MESD. We pay for it all and we are the ones getting flooded. I once talked to the Chairman of the county about possibly a small tax from these communities to help pay for all of their water. Makes since to me. With that extra revenue we could build more pump houses and retention lakes. He did not want no part of it. Basically no one cares about the bottoms. I tell people this; Imagine sitting in Lowes parking lot in Glen Carbon on a afternoon and a huge storm rolls in. All of that water coming off the parking lots and gutters in that area all go to Cahokia Creek and down to the bottoms. Maybe the county could buy up some farm fields for a large retention lake to hold off this water until our water is out. I mean we pay for that service. Talking to the Army Corp, our area is the 2nd largest water shed North of New Orleans! That is a lot. Now this is not a slam at anybody, especially the municipalities I have mentioned. This is to let you know that MESD is trying to take credit for Pontoon Beach without giving any credit to this awesome board of trustees. No credit to the Village of Pontoon Beach at all. Politics I guess. We would never take credit for something we did not do. I’m just tired of seeing all these posts and articles on how MESD is the savior of all water problems. We live in a flood plain. We will have flooding at times. The Village of Pontoon Beach is working on their water problems with no money from MESD. I always here how they do this and that. Well it’s their job. They should be doing this and that without wanting a pat on the back every time. Just wanting to set the record straight. We have walked these levies and we have sandbagged in our communities and have cleaned debris from our grates and have rescued many residents and animals from our town during the 2015 flood. We the Village have done that. Next time you hear someone say we saved Pontoon because we lowered the lake, think back at this post."
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