Beyond Apologies: Demanding Justice in University Park
Attorney General Kwame Raoul, The Honorable John Anderson, Judge of 12th Judicial Circuit
Since June 14, 2019, University Park has been battling a severe water crisis due to lead contamination, impacting the village for over 1,839 days.
Recent developments involving a consent decree have proposed a settlement of $900,000 to address the lead issues in approximately 1,600 homes. This amount averages to only $562 per home. This sum is vastly insufficient compared to the EPA's recommended repair cost of $4,700 per home.
The settlement, representing only 0.18% of Aqua’s parent company's $498.2 million 2023 profits, is not just inadequate; it is an insult to the residents of University Park. The settlement needs to cover the full extent of the damage. Therefore, we are demanding a settlement amount of $7.52 million to ensure every affected home can address the lead contamination adequately.
Your support by signing this petition will deeply impact this fight for clean water. Together, we can start to secure justice for University Park residents.
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To:
Attorney General Kwame Raoul, The Honorable John Anderson, Judge of 12th Judicial Circuit
From:
[Your Name]
We are concerned residents and stakeholders in the village of University Park. Since June 14, 2019, as a community we have been fighting for clean water. As you well know, for the past 1839 days, the people of University Park have been living with the problem of lead in the water.
On June 8, 2024, and June 25, 2024 the people of University Park were made aware of a consent decree, which proposed $900,000 applied to 1600 affected homes for remediation of lead solder in the pipes. $900,000 divided by approximately 1600 homes is $562. However, according to the decree, the maximum amount to repair solder, etc is $3500 per person, although the EPA advises that the average to repair is $4700. If this is so, and people are granted the maximum amount of $3500, only 257 of 1600 homes would be able to cover a portion of the expenses related to these repairs. This would leave a remaining balance of 1343 homes to cover the costs of a water crisis they did not cause.
If the costs are spread out evenly, this is a grossly inadequate amount ($562 per household) to repair the damage to the residents’ infrastructure that Aqua caused by its negligence. If 257 persons come first, and leave 1343 people without access to funding for curing their concern, this is even more of an injustice. For 1600 homes to have the proper remediation, approximately $7.5 million would be necessary to make each home whole from this over 1839 day nightmare. It should be noted that $7.5 million is only 1.5% of Aqua’s parent company's yearly profits of $498.2 million, as opposed to the current offer of $900,000 equaling 0.18%.
We understand there are other possible legal proceedings pending. However, this current settlement / consent decree severely lacks the resources needed to adequately address the water crisis caused by Aqua’s negligence. Considering the massive profits Aqua raked in just last year, such an insufficient amount is insulting to the beautiful people of University Park.
We write this letter to encourage you to increase the settlement amount to at least $7,520,000 to ensure that all homes are cared for in the remediation of their homes infrastructure as it relates to the lead soldering which exists.