It s Time to Finally Clean Up the Chicago River

Transcription

1 It s Time to Finally Clean Up the Chicago River Your daughter is kayaking in Chicago on the North Shore Channel directly behind Northside College Prep High School. If you think that the water flowing beneath her is from rain runoff and melting snow, guess again. Between sixty and one hundred percent of it is non-disinfected toilet and sewer water that has been discharged only three miles upstream at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District s North Side plant. It is the most polluted discharge water of any major metropolitan area in the country, thick with bacteria levels that can be more than 1,000 times higher than what is discharged from other urban sewage treatment plants. The water contains human-borne viruses, bacteria and worms that can cause everything from hepatitis to staph infections to dysentery. We respectfully urge U.S. Congressman Mike Quigley to lend his support in eradicating this health hazard and public embarrassment. Please join the North River Commission in the concerted effort to force the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to treat its wastewater to the same standards as the rest of the civilized world and, if necessary, secure the federal capital investment to make it happen.

2 Background Information: In virtually every other city in the nation, it would be illegal to pump out partially treated sewage teeming with the amount of disease-causing bacteria that churns endlessly into the Chicago River. Yet in Chicago this practice continues with the pollution of the Chicago River by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC), the agency that oversees the river and treats the region's sewage. Depending on the time of year, between 60 percent and 100 percent of the river's murky flow comes from sewage plants. Levels of bacteria and other pathogens in the frothy brown water are so high that the sewer district posts hundreds of signs warning the channels are unsafe for "any human body contact." The sharp contrast between the Chicago River and most other waterways can be summed up in part by routine tests for fecal coliform, a microscopic bacterium that indicates the presence of human waste and is measured in colony forming units, or CFUs. Where fecal coliform are present, disease-causing bacteria aren't far behind, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Bacteria associated with fecal coliform can cause diarrhea, dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever. The primary focus of the NRC s initiative is the MWRDGC North Side Water Reclamation Plant located in Skokie, IL. This plant serves over 1.3 million people residing in a 141 square mile area which includes the City of Chicago north of Fullerton Avenue and the northern Cook County suburbs. This encompass all residents within the NRC geographical boundaries. The North Side Plant discharges its water into the North Shore Channel which flows directly into the North Branch of the Chicago River. Historically, the North Side Plant has been given a pass by the EPA on the normal disinfection requirements. It daily discharges hundreds of millions of gallons of partially treated sewer water thick with bacteria at levels that can range up to 1,000 times higher than what is discharged at other urban sewage treatment plants. Most cities typically have strict limits on how much fecal coliform they can discharge; the Jones Island Treatment Plant in Milwaukee discharged an average of 29 fecal colony forming units per 100 milliliters of water in Disinfected sewage that suburban Elgin pumps into the Fox River on average contains about 23 CFUs per 100 milliliters of water, well below state standards for swimmable waterways. Records from the Chicago Reclamation District show the North Side treatment plant at McCormick Boulevard and Howard Street averaged 12,279, with daily spikes as high as 170,000 CFU s per 100 ml. 2

3 At Chicago's big three reclamation treatment plants, there is no CFU cap. Wastewater pouring out of the North Side treatment plant contains bacteria levels more than 400 times higher than the disinfected wastewater Philadelphia pumps into the Delaware River. For now, it is perfectly legal for the sewer district to skip disinfecting the region's wastewater. Exempting the Chicago River and its connected waterways from the toughest provisions of the federal Clean Water Act reflected the view that they are little more than industrialized sewage canals. Until now, state officials assumed that any human contact with the water would be brief and accidental. Go ahead and dip a canoe paddle into the river, they have said. Just don't fall in. But in a significant policy shift, the Obama administration is calling for a change: The Chicago River, an erstwhile prairie stream engineered into a sewage canal that flows backward from Lake Michigan, should be made safe enough for swimming. The administration's position, outlined in a letter recently filed with a state rulemaking panel, the Illinois Pollution Control Board, goes far beyond new water quality standards proposed by Illinois regulators. The state's plan would limit disease-causing bacteria in the river for the first time and require other steps to help fish thrive in concrete-lined channels that stretch through the city. "That letter from the (federal) EPA kind of floored everybody," said Louis Kollias, director of monitoring and research for the MWRDGC. "We think the river is clean enough for how it is used today," Kollias said. "Why should we be spending millions of dollars to do this?" Opponents have filed several legal challenges to delay the proposed river standards. Sewer district officials remain fiercely opposed. They have spent more than $13 million during the last five years fighting the tougher water quality standards proposed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which would need the Pollution Control Board to sign off before enforcing the new river rules. Scientists and lawyers hired by the district all come to the same conclusion: The river might be full of nasty bacteria and viruses from human and industrial waste. They feel it just isn't worth the expense of cleaning it up. The district estimates it would cost taxpayers $623 million to disinfect wastewater from its three treatment plants. The U.S. EPA commissioned its own study that concluded the cost would be considerably less about $242 million, or about $2 a month per household spread out over two decades. The estimate for just the North Side Plant would fall between $80 and $100 million. The cleanup debate reflects changing attitudes about the river that, for decades, was considered just a quirky part of Chicago's history, a festering waterway that had been diverted away from the lake to separate the city's waste from its source of drinking water. Yet with occasional encouragement from the sewer district, people are increasingly drawn to the river for canoeing, kayaking and boating. High school and college rowing teams 3

4 practice on the channels. The Northside College Prep High School on North Kedzie Ave. is built on the river only three miles south of the North Side plant. Summer camps and afterschool programs organize river adventures to teach kids about nature in an urban setting. New and expanded parks line the shoreline. "We're not living in a Third World country here," said Marylynn Yates, a University of California-Riverside microbiologist hired by environmental groups pushing to improve the river. "The bottom line is we know they are putting pathogens in the water, and we know that getting them out of the water will protect public health." "That's what I really don't understand about the position the district is arguing,'' said Peter Orris, another UIC researcher who supports the state's proposed river improvements. "It's well documented that if you recreationally use polluted water, you get it in your system and it causes disease." The old model for the Chicago River no longer works with thousands of Chicago area residents now engaging annually in river related activities. This is especially true for the North Branch which meanders along parks, schools, bicycle paths, private homes and an increasing number of new condo developments. "It's time to raise the bar for the Chicago River," said Laurene von Klan, former executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. "When everyone else is out there these days with a new vision for the river, we have a regulatory process that's still tied to the old river." Supporters: Select Supporters: U.S. Senator Mark Steven Kirk, United States Senator - Illinois U.S. Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., 2nd Congressional District of Illinois U.S. Congressman Mike Quigley, 5th Congressional District of Illinois Illinois Governor Pat Quinn Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan State Representative Elizabeth Coulson, 17th District of Illinois State Representative Esther Golar, 6th District of Illinois State Representative Elizabeth Lisa Hernandez, 24th District of Illinois State Representative Kevin Joyce, 35th District of Illinois State Representative Deborah Mell, 40th District of Illinois Mayor Richard M. Daley Chicago Park District City of Chicago Department of Environment Elizabeth Tisdahl, Mayor, City of Evanston MWRD Commissioner Debra Shore MWRD Commissioner Mariyana Spyropoulos 4

5 Environmental Law & Policy Center Illinois Paddling Council Natural Resources Defense Council Openlands Prairie Rivers Network Sierra Club of Illinois North River Commission - Chicago Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, 33rd Ward Chicago Alderman Eugene Schulter, 47th Ward Chicago Alderman Scott E. Waguespack, 32nd Ward Sources: The Chicago Tribune Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Friends of the River Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Compiled by John Friedmann, jf@johnfriedmann.com January 25, 2011 President, Horner Park West Neighborhood Association Board Member, North River Commission 5