Flooding

Creating wetlands in farm country can reduce the severity of flooding downstream. The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative and Ducks Unlimited have partnered to create more wetlands in the Mississippi River basin.

The EPA is investigating a complaint against the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, which represents the governors of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The order mandates the city to submit plans to control sanitary sewer overflows, which can cause water to back up in residents’ homes and yards.

Missouri has experienced some of the warmest and wettest years on record in recent decades, said Pat Guinan, state climatologist and associate professor of climatology at the University of Missouri Extension.

“I’ve heard that 20-something years, so seeing is believing,” one resident said.

Farmers along the Missouri River won a mass action federal lawsuit last December against the Army Corps of Engineers for land damages they say are...

Community participation is a major element of the nearly $1 million grant.

“I show up. I work. I do whatever needs to be done,” said state Sen. Christopher Belt, D-Centreville, of his role at Commonfields of Cahokia Public Water and Sewer District.

“The persistent flooding and sewage residents have experienced are entirely unacceptable, especially in a pandemic when home has never been more sacred,” the governor said.

Centreville, Alorton and Cahokia have applied for a $22 million federal grant that local leaders believe would fix failed sewage systems in those communities. “I would like to see it happen, but, believe me, I won’t hold my breath,” one resident said.