Christian Gooden
CENTREVILLE — In Lincoln and Hazel LeFlore’s front yard, near the street, is what appears to be a fountain, poking out of the ground. It flows continuously, carving a trench that runs alongside their home and into the woods out back.
Look closer, though, and take a breath — and it’s clear this is no fountain, but rather an open pipe that leads to a sewer. Pressure popped the cap off years ago, allowing raw sewage to flow to the surface. The LeFlores said if they tried closing it, the wastewater would instead pour from their toilets, bathtubs and sinks. The same would happen at their neighbors’ homes.
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The city sits in the Mississippi River flood plain known as the American Bottom, which stretches across the Metro East from Alton south to the Kaskaskia River. Its eastern edge is the river bluffs, where the larger cities of Belleville and Fairview Heights are perched.
Flooding and sewer problems have long plagued the area’s system of drainage ditches, levees and pumps, but Centreville residents said their problems have become far worse and more frequent over the past 20 years...
