Benton Township Supervisor Cathy Yates is hailing the start of a major sewer project that she says could lead to lower sewer bills for residents.
At this week’s meeting of the Benton Township Board of Trustees, Yates said the project to connect the township sewer system to the Joint Wastewater Treatment Plant operated between Benton Harbor and St. Joseph means the township will no longer be relying on the city of Benton Harbor for that line. She says the township was always supposed to build its own line, but that just never happened.
“We’re connected with them, and that’s why we were told 20-plus years ago we should have had our own line, but the supervisors before me put it off, put it off, put it off, and it fell in my lap,” Yates said.
Yates said it wasn’t easy to get the project off the ground, but support from Clerk Carolyn Phillips and trustees made it possible. She says the township is billed for use of the current sewer line based on estimates from Benton Harbor, so with the township’s own dedicated line running under the St. Joseph River, residents will be billed more accurately.
The bore under the St. Joe River has already been completed, and crews are now preparing to pull the pipe into place. You can see some of the work taking place if you head over to Riverview Drive.
Yates expects the $8 million project to be finished by the end of the year, most of it paid for with a state grant.
