(70 ILCS 2405/7) (from Ch. 42, par. 306)

Sec. 7. The board of trustees of any sanitary district organized under this Act shall have power to provide for the disposal of the sewage thereof including the sewage and drainage of any incorporated city, town or village within the boundaries of such district and to save and preserve the water supplied to the inhabitants of such district from contamination and for that purpose may construct and maintain an enclosed conduit or conduits, main pipe or pipes, wholly or partially submerged, buried or otherwise, and by means of pumps or otherwise cause such sewage to flow or to be forced through such conduit or conduits, pipe or pipes to and into any ditch or canal constructed and operated by any other sanitary district, after having first acquired the right so to do, or such board may provide for the drainage of such district by laying out, establishing, constructing and maintaining one or more channels, drains, ditches and outlets, for carrying off and disposing of the drainage (including the sewage) of such district together with such adjuncts and additions thereto as may be necessary or proper to cause such channels or outlets to accomplish the end for which they are designed, in a satisfactory manner, including pumps and pumping stations and the operation of the same. Such board may also treat and purify such sewage so that when the same shall flow into any lake or other water-course, it will not injuriously contaminate the waters thereof, and may adopt any other feasible method to accomplish the object for which such sanitary district may be created, and may also provide means whereby the sanitary district may reach and procure supplies of water for diluting and flushing purposes; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to empower or authorize such board of trustees to operate a system of waterworks for the purposes of furnishing or delivering water to any such municipality or to the inhabitants thereof. Nothing in this Act shall require a sanitary district to extend service to any individual residence or other building within the district, and it is the intent of the Illinois General Assembly that any construction contemplated by this Section shall be restricted to construction of works and main or interceptor sewers, conduits, channels and similar facilities, but not individual service lines. Nothing in this Act contained shall authorize the trustees to flow the sewage of such district into Lake Michigan.

Every such sanitary district shall proceed as rapidly as is reasonably possible to provide sewers and a plant or plants for the treatment and purification of its sewage, which plant or plants shall be of suitable kind and sufficient capacity to properly treat and purify such sewage so as to conduce to the preservation of the public health, comfort and convenience and to render the sewage harmless, insofar as is reasonably possible, to animal, fish and plant life. Any violation of this proviso and any failure to observe and follow same, by any sanitary district organized under this Act, shall be held, and is hereby declared, to be a business offense and fined on the part of the sanitary district not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000, and the trustees thereof may be ousted from office as trustees of the district by an order of the court before whom the cause is heard. Upon the complaint of the Environmental Protection Agency it shall be the duty of the Pollution Control Board to cause the foregoing provisions to be enforced in accordance with Section 31 of the "Environmental Protection Act". Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed as superseding or in any manner limiting the provisions of the "Environmental Protection Act".

The board of trustees of any sanitary district formed under this Act may also enter into an agreement to sell, convey, or disburse treated wastewater to any public or private entity located within or outside of the boundaries of the sanitary district. Any use of treated wastewater by any public or private entity shall be subject to the orders of the Pollution Control Board. The agreement may not exceed 20 years.

In providing works for the disposal of industrial sewage, commonly called industrial wastes, in the manner above provided whether the industrial sewage is disposed of in combination with municipal sewage or independently, the Sanitary District shall have power to apportion and collect therefor, from the producer thereof, fair additional construction, maintenance and operating costs over and above those covered by normal taxes, and in case of dispute as to the fairness of such additional construction, maintenance and operating costs, then the same shall be determined by a board of three engineers, one appointed by the sanitary district, one appointed by such producer or producers or their legal representatives, and the third to be appointed by the two engineers selected as above described. In the event the two engineers so selected shall fail to agree upon a third engineer then upon the petition of either of the parties the circuit judge shall appoint such third engineer. A decision of a majority of the board shall be binding on both parties and the cost of the services of the board shall be shared by both parties equally.

In providing works, including the main pipes referred to above, for the disposal of raw sewage, in the manner above provided, whether such sewage is disposed of in combination with municipal sewage or independently, the Sanitary District shall have power to collect a fair and reasonable charge for connection to its system in addition to those charges covered by normal taxes, for the construction, expansion and extension of the works of the system, the charge to be assessed against new or additional users of the system and to be known as a connection charge. Such construction, expansion and extension of the works of the system shall include proposed or existing collector systems and may, at the discretion of such District, include connections by individual properties. The charge for connection shall be determined by the District and may equal or exceed the actual cost to the District of the construction, expansion or extension of the works of the system required by the connection. The funds thus collected shall be used by the Sanitary District for its general corporate purposes with primary application thereof being made by the necessary expansion of the works of the system to meet the requirements of the new users thereof.

(Source: P.A. 97-1000, eff. 8-17-12.)