WBEZ | Metropolitan Water Reclamation District

Pill round-up: MWRD wants your unused medication

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:21:00 -0500

Valium, adderall, warfarin — if it’s common medication in the general population, it’s a common water contaminant. Pharmaceutical products routinely enter the ecosystem, altering the behavior of fish and tainting the drinking water supplies of 40 million Americans.

To help cut back on that contamination, The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) is participating in a national drug “take-back” event, inviting Chicagoans to anonymously dispose of their unused and unwanted medication.

MWRD has participated in all five national drug collection events, which are organized nationally by the Drug Enforcement Administration. For the first time, MWRD will weigh Saturday’s haul to assess the program’s reach.

Spring prescription drug collection date set for April 27; three drop-off sites at MWRD facilities. twitter.com/MWRDGC/status/…
— MWRD (@MWRDGC) February 28, 2013

Drugs still make their way into our water, said Thomas Granato of MWRD’s monitoring and research division, once they’ve passed through the body. But destroying unused medication eliminates a preventable source of the pollution.

Granato said it’s not currently possible for the District to remove pharmceutical contaminants from wastewater once they’ve made it out into the environment. MWRD hands the medication they collect over to police, who have it incinerated.

Collection will be at the main gate of MWRD’s three treatment facilities, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant, 3500 Howard Street, Skokie, Ill.
Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, 6001 W. Pershing Rd., Cicero, Ill.
Calumet Water Reclamation Plant, 400 E. 130^th St., Chicago.

Flooding in a drought year

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:15:00 -0500

After a frighteningly dry summer, record-low lake levels over the winter and a near shut-down of the Mississippi river due to low waters, it’s flood season. This week there were flood warnings in Lake County to the north of Chicago and in parts of the Illinois River to the west, and numerous rivers and streams hit flood or near-flood levels near the Quad Cities, Cairo and St. Louis.

The sudden flooding may be hard to absorb, but it’s a fact of living in a floodplain state. Illinois’ low lands and abundant rivers mean many parts of the state are liable to flood on a yearly basis, and the Chicago area’s history is marked by almost countless catastrophic floods.

So, is anything special about this year’s flood warnings? Well, yes and no.

“Typically, our flood season for the larger rivers is in the early spring,” said Bill Morris, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service. But this year, he said, areas north of Chicago had a frost depth down to ten inches during the melt and precipitation. “So when we had additional rainfall...that water basically hit a solid surface and just started running off into the streams.”

Morris said the runoff has the added consequence of preventing much-needed water from absorbing into parched, drought-stricken soil. To make a deeper dent in the drought we’ll need rain throughout the spring.

Flood or near-flood conditions have been even more widespread closer to St. Louis, but Mike Petersen of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District agrees that it’s not unusual.

“I think what’s really alarming for folks is to see how quickly the river came up this year,” Petersen said.

In one day in the St. Louis area he saw the Mississippi rise ten feet due to a combination of increased water from snow melt in the north, and precipitation in the watershed. But rain doesn’t necessarily mean an end to drought.

“I think we are relieved to have some water in the river, but...we may end up facing low water conditions seeing as we’ve gone into this year with less water in the system than we started last year,” Petersen said.

Flood trouble

Flooding in the greater Chicago area is a lot more complicated than what you might imagine when you hear about a flooded river; in that TV-ready scenario, the river overflows, and water creeps into streets and front yards.

But a lot of the flooding that strikes Chicago is flash flooding or sewer backups – the result of water filling up Chicago’s notorious combined sewer system. Dramatic summertime floods afflicted multiple Chicago neighborhoods in recent summers when sudden rains overflowed the city’s drainage system.

Beverly native Kathy Parker has lived in West Morgan Park on the far South Side for six years. In spring of 2011 her house flooded during a downpour, and her finished basement filled with several feet of sewer water. She cleaned for nearly two days straight, threw out a bunch of personal possessions, and thought she’d seen the worst of it. A month later, her basement filled up again.

She described a situation that may be grossly familiar to many Chicagoans.

“This time it was even worse, water just shooting like a fountain out of the drain, and everything imaginable and nasty in there,” Parker said.

She lost her my parents’ wedding albums in the flood. Her block was lined with dumpsters where neighbors tossed carpets, flooring and personal items.

Darlene Crawford of Calumet Heights tells a similar story. She’s lived on the Southeast Side for over 40 years with her family and has no desire to leave behind the house she bought shortly after marrying her husband.

“It’s a close-knit community and most of us have lived here, raised our children and now our grandchildren,” she said, “and a lot of our kids have moved back into this area.”

But not long after they moved into the house, their basement flooded for the first time. She says it has since flooded at least twenty times, not including instances of minor leaks.

“We didn’t know to ask, or to have a home inspection [before moving in],” she said.

But it wasn’t long before they realized, as Kathy Parker had, that the problem was community-wide.

“We found out that our house wasn’t the only house experiencing this type of problem. After a rain we would see the alleys just littered with household items,” Crawford said.

Crawford eventually came together with her neighbors to demand help from the city and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), but she says most of the solutions she and her neighbors have adopted are individual: flood insurance, remodeling, changing how they use their basements for storage and installing individual drainage systems for homes.

“Nobody does anything about it”

Someone once said everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.

Not so in the metro Chicago area. Cities and counties have no choice but to act on flooding; the amount of water that melts or precipitates in sudden bursts in an average Chicago spring or summer is too much to ignore.

Chicago’s faced with a problem related to the nature of its expansive and world-famous sewer system. The system, originally constructed in the 1800s, is what’s known as a combined sewer system: raw sewage and rainwater drain into the same pipes. Once upon a time, that drainage headed to the lake; now most of it goes through some treatment and separation, and gets deposited into waterways connected to the Illinois and Chicago Rivers. But during a storm, the whole system can become quickly overwhelmed, and when it overflows, the overflow (politely called a Combined Sewer Overflow or CSO by the MWRD) is a mix of rain water and raw sewage.

The MWRD has been working since the 1970s on what’s called the “Deep Tunnel” project or TARP (Tunnel and Reservoir Plan) that involves constructing a humongous system of tunnels, some as wide as 33 feet, connected to reservoirs designed to store overflow water. The 109 miles of underground tunnels are complete, but the last of the reservoirs won’t be complete until 2029. MWRD says the construction of the TARP has reduced the numbers of days with combined sewer overflows from 100 per year to 50 per year on average.

But Chicago floods may also be addressed by community-based and development solutions.

“It’s a collective problem, rather than just an individual property problem,” said Harriet Festing, director of the water program at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT).

CNT is researching the prevalence and cost of flooding in the Chicago area by gathering insurance claim data and personal stories about flooding experiences.

“Forty-two percent of Cook County is impervious...that’s our parking lots, our streets, our sidewalks. And that’s just volumes of rain running off those areas and into our backyards and our basements,” Festing said.

As long as that volume of runoff has nowhere to go, using personal funds to build a more waterproof basement or better drainage in your own backyard is tantamount to swimming upstream in the Calumet River (and you don’t want to do that).

According to Festing, development that takes water runoff into account can go a long way in preventing increased flood risk in urban areas; rain barrels, rain gardens and small-scale projects in individual homes can also make a difference if they’re installed across an entire neighborhood.

MWRD has been taking public comments on a proposed watershed management ordinance since 2009, and plans to release a complete draft this spring. If passed, the ordinance would authorize a more proactive district-wide approach to new development that would better absorb storm water and protect people from flooding.

Not flooded out yet? WBEZ’s Chris Bentley has more on the links between flooding and climate change.

And you can get tips from the federal government and from the City of Chicago on how to deal with flooding in your area.

Follow Lewis Wallace on Twitter.

Chicago-area waterways slated for a clean-up

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:09:00 -0600

Asked whether people might one day go for a swim in Chicago's Little Calumet River, environmental advocate Tom Shepherd snorted.

“When I was a kid we used to jump in there,” he said. “And we didn’t know anything about what kind of dangers were lurking in there but we did nevertheless, and we came out all black and grimy.”

Shepherd, who works with the Southeast Environmental Task Force, now knows as well as anyone that the Calumet waterways have been severely polluted for over a century by a potent mix of toxic run-off from steel mills and sewage from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) of the greater Chicago area. To this day, water flows from MWRD plants into the river without being disinfected to federal standards. An innocent kayaker who splashes water in her own face may be hit with a faceful of fecal bacteria.

“We have been advocating for disinfection for a long time,” Shepherd said.

That disinfecting treatment is finally in sight. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announced Monday that the state is giving $250 million in loans to the MWRD to help clean up Chicago-area waterways and replace aging infrastructure. More than half of the money will go to build facilities at the Calumet and O’Brien treatment plants that take dangerous bacteria out of wastewater before it hits the Chicago or Calumet Rivers. Some of the funded projects will also help keep sewers from overflowing, which sends raw sewage into the waterways with relative frequency.

Quinn also touted the creation of 2,000 unionized jobs with the low-interest loans, which are a part of the Illinois Clean Water Initiative.

The shift towards cleaner rivers hasn’t come easy. For years the publicly-elected MWRD commission fought for the right to not clean up Chicago’s waterways. After a prolonged legal struggle, in 2011 the MWRD announced it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to start better managing polluted storm runoff and enforcing EPA standards for water it releases from its plants. At that time the Chicago Tribune reported that between 60 and 100 percent of the water in the Chicago River on a given day originated in a wastewater treatment plant and came out only partially treated. The numbers in the Little Calumet, Chicago’s branch of the Calumet River, are similar.

Shepherd said he doesn’t see swimmers getting in the Little Calumet any time soon, but boaters are already coming back.

“It’s pretty exciting. This summer we’re doing more paddling on the river, we’re bringing recreation, we have a great trail that’s being developed,” he said.

With Governor Quinn’s support, in 2011 the Southeast Environmental Task Force was involved with declaring a large area of heavily polluted wetlands near Lake Calumet a future wildlife reserve. At a press conference Monday, Quinn referenced the positive effects the water clean-up will have on that project, called the Millenium Reserve.

“You have eagles who actually live here. How many urban areas in the whole United States have eagles?” Quinn said. “It’ll be the largest conservation area in any urban environment in the whole United States, but in order to make it worthwhile, you’ve gotta have clean water.”

Shepherd, who has seen the eagles nesting in the south side wetlands, was hopeful about the clean-up efforts, but a little more reserved than Quinn.

“Someday we may be able to fish out there,” he said.

Chicago's water department says it's secure against cyber attack

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:35:00 -0600

The Chicago department in charge of the city's water said it's safe from cyber attack. That comes after what may have been a cyber attack on a water facility just outside of Springfield, Illinois.

On November 8th, attackers allegedly gained access to a rural Illinois water utility network and its pumps. Reuters reported no service was disrupted, but it appears credentials were stolen from a company that makes software to control industrial systems.

The Springfield FBI is still investigating but said they don't believe infrastructure or public safety is at risk.

David St. Pierre is with Chicago's Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. He said Chicago's water system doesn't have the same vulnerabilities as the one downstate.

"Our system does not tie to the external world. Our security strategy is that they are independent so there really is no way for anybody to access them from the outside, at all," St. Pierre said.

The downstate water utility reporting the security breach did not immediately return calls for comment.

Feds okay Chicago River cleanup

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:28:00 -0600

After months of back and forth, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has approved Illinois' new water quality standards for several Chicago area waterways. For more than a year, the EPA has encouraged Illinois to make the Chicago and Calumet Rivers clean enough to swim in.

Former Mayor Richard Daley responded to federal regulators by telling them to "go swim in the Potomac."

Chicago is one of the few big cities in the country that doesn't disinfect sewage before discharging it. But this past May, the EPA's encouragement became a demand. After overcoming political opposition from local water officials, the Illinois government was forced to change its quality standards. Local water officials will now have to disinfect water discharged into the river system.

The approved standards will apply to the North and South Branches of the Chicago River, the North Shore Channel, the Cal-Sag Channel and the Little Calumet River.

An EPA official says the new standards will transform the Chicago River from a sewage canal to a recreational and economic asset.

Cook County Democratic Party slates ticket

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:00:00 -0500

Candidates for next year's Cook County elections made their pitches Thursday for why they deserve the support of the Democratic Party.

The three minute speeches candidates gave may or may not have actually mattered in the final vote. Many Democratic committee members had proxies show up in their stead, and others had already decided who they'd vote for in slating the ticket.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County is a hot position in next year’s election, and incumbent Dorothy Brown is the Democratic Party’s choice. She faced Ricardo Munoz for the Party’s backing.

He used much of his time Thursday pitching the committee, trying to convince them that Brown wasn’t fit for the job. Chief among his complaints was her office's lack of e-filing capabilities for lawyers.

“Dorothy Brown’s inefficiency is as outdated as her computer technology,” Munoz said.

But Munoz’s many complaints weren’t enough to win over the Democratic Party, and neither was his being backed by Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle.

But other candidates' pitches did end in success. Karen Yarborough is the committee's choice for Recorder of Deeds, and State's Attorney Anita Alvarez ran unopposed.

Other offices up for grabs are three jobs with the the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. The committee chose to slate incumbent Deborah Shore, chemist Kari Steele and lawyer Patrick Thompson.

Thompson grew up in a well-known Chicago political family: the Daleys. He said growing up with so many public servants inspired him to seek the office.

For the Cook County Board of Review, the committee chose Larry Rogers, Michael Carbonargi and Casey Griffin.

As for the candidates that didn't win the Democratic Party's backing, some will still run, but most are expected to drop out.

After Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board vote, what's next for the Chicago River?

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:42:00 -0500

On Tuesday, the board of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board agreed to disinfect sewage from two Chicago-area treatment plants. Their 8-1 vote is the latest move in a long debate over the cleanliness of the Chicago River, one that has grown to involve state and federal authorities.

To find out what’s next and how soon our waters might be clean Eight Forty-Eight was joined by Commissioner Debra Shore of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Music Button: Medeski Martin & Wood, "Mimi Gato", from the CD Note Bleu: Best of the Blue Note Years, (Blue Note)

Officials move closer to disinfecting Chicago River

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:45:00 -0500

A state board took a major step today in the long-running debate over how clean the Chicago River should be, proposing to make the river safe enough to swim in.

“I think this is a big turning point in the long, long battle to clean up the Chicago River,” said Jessica Dexter, staff attorney with the Environmental Law and Policy Center.

The Illinois Pollution Control Board has been mulling the issue for years. If the new standard is finalized, it would all but guarantee the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District would have to start disinfecting the treated sewage it pumps into the river system.

That agency delayed a much-anticipated vote Thursday over whether to adopt a pro-disinfection policy. It became obvious at the meeting that a clear majority of commissioners now support disinfection. But one commissioner blocked the vote, and District President Terry O’Brian reiterated his skepticism.

“President Obama when he took office said that for any public health and safety issues, environmental issues, energy issues, there should be science done,” said O’Brian. “And what are we doing? We’re throwing science out the window.”

Still, O’Brian said outright he would not veto a "yes" vote.

“It’s almost a race between the two agencies to see if the Water Reclamation District is going to step up and do this voluntarily or if they’re gonna wait until the USEPA and the Illinois Pollution Control Board forces their hand,” ELPC’s Dexter said.

Each agency is expected to reach a decision at its next meeting, both of which are scheduled for June 16th.

Environmentalists sue water district over discharges

Tue, 03 May 2011 21:45:00 -0500

Conservation groups are taking the Chicago-area’s water reclamation district to court, accusing the agency of chronically polluting the region’s river system. The plaintiffs call out the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District for allowing sewage and storm water to spill into waterways on rainy days, including 19 times this year so far. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and Prairie Rivers Network say that overflow, along with excess phosphorous and other wastewater pollution, violate the Clean Water Act.

The District is working on the deep tunnel and reservoir project, which would divert most overflows. But the Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Ann Alexander said that effort has taken too long.

“They need to get off the dime and finish the tunnel and reservoir project that they started more the three decades and three billion dollars ago,” Alexander said. “But they need to do more than that.”

The Sierra Club and Prairie Rivers Network are also plaintiffs.

The water district is in talks with the federal government over how to resolve the Clean Water Act issues through a consent decree. A spokesman says the district hadn’t received the lawsuit as of late yesterday, and, citing the ongoing legal negotiations, declined to comment.