Like the School District, the Library District or the Park District, a Sanitary District is a separate administrative and political unit of government from the state, city or town within which it resides.The construction of the first sewer system here was completed in 1908 and enlarged to include septic tanks and stone filter beds in 1914. A movement to “Kleen the Kish” was led by the Izaak Walton League in 1928. In response to the mandate of local voters, the DeKalb Sanitary District was organized July 12, 1928 as the 23rd District in Illinois to be incorporated under the Sanitary District Act of 1917. At that time, it became a distinct governmental and taxing body. The District was renamed the Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District on May 1, 2017. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1972 and DeKalb Sanitary District came under its auspices as a “POTW” (a publicly owned treatment works). The District holds NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit Number #IL0023027. The Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District is a Class I Wastewater Treatment facility responsible to the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the direction of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for treating all wastewaters in its Facilities Planning Area which contains the City of DeKalb and Northern Illinois University. By agreement with the City of DeKalb, on November 1, 1987, the Sanitary District took over the ownership of the entire “sanitary collection system” (sanitary sewer mains and manholes) for the City of DeKalb. The District now constructs, repairs and maintains that sanitary infrastructure. Within the Northern Illinois University Campus, much of the infrastructure is private and is maintained by the University. Sewer mains on City streets passing through the University are part of the Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District collection system.