{"id":14011,"date":"2015-05-13T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=14011"},"modified":"2015-05-14T11:35:45","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T16:35:45","slug":"video-sewage-in-the-chicago-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-sewage-in-the-chicago-river\/","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: Sewage in the Chicago River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Evan Garcia<\/p>\n<p>It was brown. And it was in the Chicago River. Stunned onlookers saw a growing plume of dark water near the Michigan Avenue Bridge on April 9. After a bit of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/chicagoist.com\/2015\/04\/09\/chicago_river_rust_sure_looks_like.php\" target=\"_blank\">social media buzz<\/a> and a brief investigation by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, a city spokesman <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/local\/breaking\/chi-mwrd-investigating-discoloration-in-chicago-river-20150409-story.html\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> the discoloration was likely from \u201crust and dirt\u201d washed out of a storm runoff drain. The city said they would further investigate the overflow\u2019s source. The dirty truth is that the Chicago River is full of sewage.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"VIDEO: Sewage in the Chicago River\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/126646553?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Despite that unpleasant hue, the city insists it wasn&#8217;t sewage that spilled into the river last month.\u00a0Whether that&#8217;s true or not,\u00a0a mysterious runoff from a stormwater drain raises concern. That&#8217;s because after heavy rainfalls like the one on April 9, the MWRD routinely dumps untreated wastewater, a combination of stormwater and raw sewage, into the Chicago River.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14016\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14016\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Chicago-River-Brown.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-14016 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Chicago-River-Brown-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"A brown substance seeps into the Chicago River on April 9. (Michael Zajakowski\/Chicago Tribune)\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Chicago-River-Brown-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Chicago-River-Brown-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14016\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A brown substance seeps into the Chicago River on April 9.<br \/> (Michael Zajakowski\/Chicago Tribune)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThis is so we don\u2019t have flooding on the streets of downtown Chicago or in the CTA tunnels,\u201d said Josh Ellis, program director for the Metropolitan Planning Council, a nonprofit that works with city and state governments on civic projects.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is called combined sewer overflow and it\u2019s the product of Chicago&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityofchicago.org\/city\/en\/depts\/bldgs\/supp_info\/combined_sewers.html\" target=\"_blank\">outdated sewage infrastructure<\/a>, which\u00a0combines sewage and stormwater pipes. When these sewers overflow, they release waste into the Chicago River. One app called <a href=\"http:\/\/istheresewageinthechicagoriver.com\" target=\"_blank\">Is There Sewage in the Chicago River?<\/a> has tracked 485 sewage overflow events since 2007.<\/p>\n<p>Wastewater is treated by the MWRD at\u00a0seven\u00a0water reclamation plants serving Chicago and 125\u00a0municipalities. The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, located just southwest of Chicago in Cicero, Ill., is the largest wastewater treatment facility in the world. It covers 570 acres and processes 1.5 billion gallons of wastewater a day. However, these plants lack the capacity to treat high waters brought in\u00a0by severe storms, so the MWRD dumps the untreated wastewater into our waterways, polluting them.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14017\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14017\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-01-at-4.49.28-PM.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-14017 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-01-at-4.49.28-PM-300x169.png\" alt=\"The Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in Cicero, Ill. is the largest wastewater treatment facility in the world. (Evan Garcia\/Medill)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-01-at-4.49.28-PM-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-01-at-4.49.28-PM-1024x575.png 1024w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-01-at-4.49.28-PM.png 1271w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14017\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Serving over 2.4 million people, the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in Cicero, Ill. is the largest wastewater treatment facility in the world. (Evan Garcia\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In May 2011, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/switchboard.nrdc.org\/blogs\/aalexander\/nrdc_files_suit_against_the_wa.html\" target=\"_blank\">filed suit<\/a> against the MWRD over this practice. Later that\u00a0month, the Environmental Protection Agency sent a strongly worded letter to Illinois state government, recommending an\u00a0upgrade of environmental guidelines for the river. The federal agency pointed to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.epa.gov\/laws-regulations\/summary-clean-water-act\" target=\"_blank\">Clean Water Act<\/a>, passed in 1972, which requires all waterways to be clean enough for \u201crecreation in and around the water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Chicago River falls under the EPA\u2019s secondary recreational contact designation for a waterway. That means you can sail or\u00a0kayak on the water, but if you fall in or get splashed by it, you&#8217;d better get out and wash off. For a waterway to be suitable for primary recreational contact, like nearby Lake Michigan, it must be safe enough for swimming and immersion. Sewage and pollutants in the Chicago River preclude\u00a0it from that higher standard.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Fitzpatrick, a civil engineer for the MRWD, was less than optimistic when asked if the river would ever be swimmable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no idea,\u201d said Fitzpatrick. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of legacy pollution in the river and there are safety issues in terms of boat traffic. But that is the goal. Hopefully one day we could do whatever we want in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14018\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14018\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/ChicagoRiverKayaking.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-14018 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/ChicagoRiverKayaking-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"Activities, such as kayaking, are becoming more common on the river, prompting environmentalists to call for stricter pollution protections. Credit: Evan Garcia\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/ChicagoRiverKayaking-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/ChicagoRiverKayaking-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/ChicagoRiverKayaking.jpg 1274w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14018\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activities, such as kayaking, are becoming more common on the river, prompting environmentalists to call for stricter pollution protections. (Evan Garcia\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After months of negotiation, the EPA <a href=\"http:\/\/yosemite.epa.gov\/opa\/admpress.nsf\/0\/894b1f48807e54ea85257941005128be\" target=\"_blank\">approved<\/a> stricter water quality standards for Illinois\u2019 waterways in November 2011. Starting this December at the Cicero plant and another facility in Skokie, the MWRD will begin disinfecting the effluent it releases into the river with chlorine and ultraviolet irradiation. For environmental watchdog groups like the NRDC, this advancement is long overdue. Chicago is the last major city to adopt wastewater disinfection.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14019\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14019\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/SewageFront.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-14019 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/SewageFront-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"Since 1975, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has managed the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), a massive civic engineering project aimed at reducing combined sewer overflow.  Over $3 billion has been spent on the construction of tunnels, quarries and reservoirs to collect wastewater. The project is set to finish in 2029. (Evan Garcia\/Medill)\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/SewageFront-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/SewageFront-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/SewageFront-672x372.jpg 672w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/SewageFront-1038x576.jpg 1038w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/SewageFront.jpg 1247w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14019\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Since 1975, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has managed the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), a massive civic engineering project aimed at reducing combined sewer overflow. Over $3 billion has been spent on the construction of tunnels, quarries and reservoirs to collect wastewater. The project is set to finish in 2029. (Evan Garcia\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that we\u2019re just now talking about disinfecting shows how behind the times Chicago is in cleaning up its water,\u201d said Ann Alexander, senior attorney of the NRDC\u2019s Midwest program. \u201cThe Chicago River is a wonderful resource and has the potential to be so much more. And yet we are barely entering the 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century in terms of the kinds of water quality standards that need to be met.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While jumping in the river may not be safe, Chicagoans shouldn\u2019t tremble over\u00a0their next glass of tap water. For over a century, the sewage-laden Chicago River has been directed to flow away from Lake Michigan, the city\u2019s drinking water source.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14022\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14022\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/LakeMich.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-14022 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/LakeMich-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Michigan, the second largest Great Lake by volume, provides the majority of northeastern Illinois with their drinking water. Credit: Evan Garcia\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/LakeMich-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/LakeMich-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/LakeMich.jpg 1275w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14022\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Michigan, the second largest Great Lake by volume, provides the majority of northeastern Illinois with their drinking water. Credit: Evan Garcia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lake Michigan, the second largest Great Lake by volume, provides the majority of northeastern Illinois with their drinking water. (Evan Garcia\/Medill)In 1900, the city constructed the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which carries the city\u2019s treated sewage southwest from Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. Lake Michigan\u2019s freshwaters are generally clean; the NRDC <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nrdc.org\/water\/drinking\/uscities\/map.asp\" target=\"_blank\">grades<\/a> its water quality as \u2018excellent.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>While the Chicago River is far from sterile, its water quality is slowly improving over time. The occasional river otter or beaver can be seen under a downtown bridge and the river\u2019s resilient fish population is slowly rebounding. Perhaps these are ecological harbingers\u00a0of a healthier waterway to come.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: A view of the Chicago River from the Clark Street Bridge. (Evan Garcia\/Medill)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/cantv.org\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-8953\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/CANTV_600px_Medill-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"CAN TV logo\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/cantv.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">MEDILL REPORTS<br \/>\nON CAN TV<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>In Chicago, watch Medill Reports video stories on CAN-TV channel 27<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Evan Garcia It was brown. And it was in the Chicago River. Stunned onlookers saw a growing plume of dark water near the Michigan Avenue Bridge on April 9. After a bit of\u00a0social media buzz and a brief investigation by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, a city spokesman said the discoloration was likely from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":14025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>VIDEO: Sewage in the Chicago River - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-sewage-in-the-chicago-river\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VIDEO: Sewage in the Chicago River - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Evan Garcia It was brown. And it was in the Chicago River. Stunned onlookers saw a growing plume of dark water near the Michigan Avenue Bridge on April 9. After a bit of\u00a0social media buzz and a brief investigation by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, a city spokesman said the discoloration was likely from [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-sewage-in-the-chicago-river\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-13T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-14T16:35:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-01-at-5.24.47-PM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1272\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"713\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Evan Garcia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Evan Garcia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-sewage-in-the-chicago-river\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-sewage-in-the-chicago-river\/\",\"name\":\"VIDEO: Sewage in the Chicago River - 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