The Village of Cassopolis has had a foul problem on its hands the last several years.

Since 2012, the village’s force main sewer line has experienced nine breaks, causing sewage to seep out into the streets requiring the village department of public works to spend nearly $20,000 each time to clean up.

After years of dealing with the problem, village officials finally believe they have determined the cause of the problem — the lift station used by the county jailhouse.

According to Cassopolis Superintendent Of The Department Of Public Works Ben Anderson, the breaks are believed to be caused by a build up of pressure within the main lines, which could be caused by the pump employed at the Cass County Jail. That pump uses a 15-horsepower motor, which Anderson said is well in excess of the kind of the power needed to push wastewater through the piping at the jail.

Anderson’s hypothesis is backed up by a recent survey of the village’s sewage system by engineers with Benton Harbor’s Wightman and Associates, who said it is possible that the lift station is behind the series of breaks, he said.

Cass County officials, meanwhile, posit that the breakages are not the result of the lift station, and instead are due to the age of Cassopolis sewer lines.

With the village facing a mandate from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to solve the ongoing breakage issues by month’s end, it appears both governments need to determine a plan to stop this problem from spilling out again.

Unfortunately, messy problems often require messy solutions, which appears to be the case here.

Regardless of who or what is to blame for the issues, both sides need to come to a common ground to figure out how to solve it. And whatever that agreement is, it will likely cost taxpayer dollars to fix.

However, given the constant flow of money needed to address the ongoing spills, whatever solution is worked out will be good for taxpayers in the long run.

We hope that both the village and county are able to work together to solve this problem, and soon, for the benefit of the people of Cassopolis and the county as a whole.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.