Reclamation District Says It Is Not Responsible for Contaminated Wells

Winnebago County, Illinois- For more than six months, dozens of home in unincorporated Winnebago County have been living without clean running water. The Winnebago County Health Department says there is still E. coli and coli form in the water, but disagrees with the residents about whos to blame for the contamination. Melinda Rodgers and her family have been living off bottled water supplied by the Rock River Reclamation District since January. "Weve got three cases of water left," says Rodgers. "I don`t know what were going to do when we run out of these three cases." Rodgers daughter has Down syndrome and, for health reasons, can`t even bathe in the tap water. But when the free bottled water is out, it`s out. The Reclamation District says it`s spent more than $150,000 on the neighborhood, and that`s enough. "The lining is done and the provision of water is done," says Steve Graceffa of the Rock River Water Reclamation District. "To stop our water when ours still has coli form and E. coli in it, I don`t think that`s right," says Rodgers. Rodgers believes a Reclamation District sewer line back up is to blame. In January, raw sewage bubbled up in back yards. Larry Swacina from the Winnebago County Health Department says the contamination is from rain and surface contamination and therefore the Reclamation District is off the hook. "Im quite confident, based on 6 months of data, that there`s absolutely no reason to believe its from a one time spill," says Swacina. "Our wells were fine until the sewers backed up," says Rodgers. She doesn`t trust the Health Department`s conclusion so Rodgers is calling for an independent investigation from the Attorney General`s Office. "Our organizations are totally independent," says Swacina. "We base our conclusions on the facts of the situation." "Its not over until our wells are cleaned up and someone has paid for our wells to be cleaned up," says Rodgers. The Health Department says the final solution is city water and sewer, but that`s still a year or two down the road.