Yesterday, eight members of a powerful board in Chicago promised to change business as usual and vote to disinfect billions of gallons of sewage that’s dumped into Chicago waters every day. After more than a decade of resisting public demands, eight of nine commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) publicly stated that on June 16th, they will stand up and vote for a cleaner and safer river.
We applaud the commissioners for reading the writing on the wall, though it would have been hard to miss given the array of powerful interests lining up in support of disinfection. US EPA, Senator Dick Durbin, Congressman Mike Quigley, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Chicago aldermen, even the Illinois Pollution Control Board, have recognized that it is time for Chicago to lose the unhappy distinction of being the only major U.S. city not disinfecting its wastewater.
We also applaud you and our steadfast clean water allies in Chicago for joining with Prairie Rivers Network in the fight to make Chicago’s waters healthy and accessible to all.
What will the June 16th vote mean? If everything goes as planned, MWRD will be required to disinfect at its Calumet and North Side sewage treatment plants. These plants dump wastewater into the Chicago River and the Calumet Sag Channel. Disinfection will kill the pathogens, or germs, that can make people who swim, fish or boat in the water sick.
But what will it cost us? It was surprising to learn that MWRD is one of the lowest cost providers of sewage treatment in the U.S. As such, Chicago’s sewer bills are now lower than many other cities. Even with disinfection, total annual sewer bills will remain lower than other cities in the region. US EPA has estimated a cost increase of $38.53/ year or $3.21/month for a home valued at $267,000, the average home value in Cook County.
A growing number of river enthusiasts, Prairie Rivers Network members among them, are using Chicago’s waters for fishing, paddling, swimming and general rollicking. Now we can safely say, “Come join us.”
This story was covered on June 15, 2011 in the Medill Reports of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
