Mt. Prospect says grease in pipes will cost about $1 million to fix

Thanks to nearby restaurants dumping grease into Mount Prospect's sewers, Lake Briarwood residents saw backups in their basements in 2009. Some said it happened more than once and other homeowners said it happened when it wasn't even raining, said Sean Dorsey, the village's deputy director of public works.

"It surprised us, the number of backups we were hearing about," said Dorsey at Tuesday's village board meeting.

After the complaints started rolling in, Mount Prospect's health department narrowed in on the Briarwood Plaza, a shopping center that had several restaurants. Health officials cracked down on the restaurants, conducting daily inspections and added grease-eating chemicals, but the problem didn't completely go away.

So in January, the village hired a company to evaluate Basin 37, the sanitary sewer that flows north to south and includes multifamily properties such as Algonquin Trails Apartments, single-family home subdivisions such as Lake Briarwood and commercial properties like the Briarwood Plaza before discharging into an interceptor on the west side of the Busse Road just north of the Interstate 90 overpass.

Turns out, the restaurants were only part of the problem, said Eric Murauskas, an engineer with Baxter & Woodman, the Crystal Lake company hired to study the sewer.

The sewers are plagued with not only grease but also tree roots. Some pipes are cracked, and others are sloped in the wrong direction, said Murauskas.

"There is an almost 100 percent blockage in some spots," said Murauskas, who added that some 8- and 10-inch sewers are now only 4 inches wide because of the grease.

To fix the problem, the village needs to spend almost $1 million to replace 1,660 feet of sewers and fix another 720 feet, according to Murauskas' report. Dorsey said the project will be part of the 2011 budget. If approved, construction could start in January or February, he said.

Besides spending money to fix the problem, the village also needs to educate residents and make sure they keep grease out of the sanitary sewer system by throwing it out instead of pouring it down the drains.