Wasco district settles pollution lawsuit

The Wasco Sanitary District has agreed to pay $12,500 to settle a pollution lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, officials said Tuesday.

The settlement, reached Friday in Kane County Circuit Court, does not acknowledge any wrongdoing on the part of the district, but outlines steps it must take to comply with its state operating permit.

District President Raul Brizuela said officials believed they could have beaten the allegations in court, but it was cheaper to settle.

"Had we litigated this, we feel that at the end of the day, the court would have seen it the Wasco Sanitary District's way," he said Tuesday. "But when we looked at the cost of litigation versus the cost of settlement, the prudent thing to do was settle."

Madigan sued the district March 23, claiming that treated wastewater had polluted Mill Creek, a Fox River tributary, since at least 2007. According to the complaint, the pollution was a result of the district oversaturating a drainage ditch and irrigation fields nearby, in conflict with state regulations.

Madigan spokesman Scott Mulford said the attorney general's office was more interested in correcting the cause of the pollution than winning in court.

"Getting the situation into compliance is the No. 1 priority," he said. "They (district officials) have a timetable of things they must do."

Among other mandates, the settlement calls for the district to take immediate action to promote proper field drainage and prevent water ponding.

It also must pay $12,500 to the Environmental Protection Trust Fund and limit irrigation to areas outlined in its permit, though Brizuela said the district has always been in compliance.

"We always follow the operating permit and will continue to follow the operating permit into the future," he said.