CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — WCIA has an update for you on the Urbana and Champaign Sanitary District project.

The public health department has started the demolition process. Last month WCIA reported that they would be making some improvements to both their northeast and southwest plants.

They’re knocking down two 70 foot tall towers at the southwest plant in Champaign. Officials said they’re no longer needed because of two main reasons.

Executive director Rick Manner said the first is that the towers used too much energy. The second is they were able to find a better way to improve the process with cleaning the waste water that didn’t involve the towers.

Right now, construction crews are working on demolishing the last tower. Manner said they’ll be able to save thousands of dollars and help the community.

“The rates won’t go up as much is what it comes down to. We typically raise our rates a little bit every year to keep up with inflation. But if we can save $50,000 here and there, the amount that we have to go up is less,” Manner said.

About a week ago, the district’s board voted on a 5% rate increase. This will help them pay themselves back after losing money during the pandemic because they didn’t raise the rates.

They’re building a new storage tank to replace the towers. Manner said they’re always looking to make operations more efficient. The last tower should come down within the next couple of weeks. The whole project at the southwest plant is expected to take around two years.