\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n
It\u2019s common knowledge amongst environmentalists that phosphorus is a harmful nutrient in bodies of water, making them uninhabitable for marine life by spurring algae growth and choking oxygen levels. It\u2019s particularly destructive in waterways that flow out of cities, where highly polluted effluent spreads downstream, contaminating tributaries and entering larger bodies of water.<\/p>\n
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\nChicago sits nearly 800 miles away from the Gulf of Mexico, yet phosphorus from the Chicago River has a damaging reach and historically has been the single largest contributor to what scientists call the \u201cdead zone,\u201d an area in the Gulf roughly the size of New Jersey where fish can\u2019t survive. And closer to home, phosphorous has been detrimental to the water quality of the lower Des Plaines and Illinois rivers.<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s why in January 2017, after six years of litigation between local environmental groups and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD), a settlement was reached to prioritize the determination of what constitutes a healthy phosphorus level in the Chicago River. Now a year after the agreement was brokered, the process of redefining permit levels is proving to be slow, but the groups involved remain hopeful they are finally on the right track.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlgae is a huge problem downstream of the plant,\u201d said Ann Alexander, senior attorney for the Lands and Wildlife Program of the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), of the MWRD\u2019s treatment plant in suburban Stickney. \u201cThe point of settlement was basically to study what needs to be done in order to ultimately put together a fix to the problem, which isn\u2019t going to happen tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander was the attorney that negotiated the phosphorous settlement in her previous role as the NRDC\u2019s legal advocacy director of the Midwest Program. As part of the settlement a Nutrient Oversight Committee will be established in 2018, comprising members of MWRD, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and a representative from the environmental groups. The committee will then hire a consultant to determine the exact levels of nutrient discharge required and make suggestions to the Illinois EPA, which will use the findings to mandate statewide permit limits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe expectation is that they\u2019ll likely come up with a number by the end of next year,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n
The initiative\u2019s ultimate goal is to get phosphorus levels, which are measured in milligrams per liter, to a point in which they will not degrade the quality of the water that flows out of the city. While the MWRD has been operating under a self-imposed permit limit of 1 milligram per liter, Alexander said scientists agree that number needs to be closer to \u2014 if not under \u2014 0.1 milligram per liter.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to get below 0.1 [milligram per liter], which is sort of the functional limit of available technology,\u201d said John Quail, director of watershed planning at the advocacy group Friends of the Chicago River.<\/p>\n
An interim backstop goal of 0.5 milligram per liter by the year 2030 was written into the settlement, ensuring the process could move forward. This aligns with the MWRD’s plans to complete its Deep Tunnel project by 2029, which will manage Chicago\u2019s stormwater runoff and make it easier to monitor the river\u2019s water quality.<\/p>\n
Prior to the agreement, the MWRD already employed technologies in its water treatment process to recover phosphorus from raw sewage and stormwater runoff, before it hits the river. The most productive system being utilized locally is from Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies. Installed at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, the Ostara equipment is capable of recovering phosphorus that is already dissolved in water.<\/p>\n
\u201dIt\u2019s allowed the largest plant in the world to achieve very low discharge numbers in terms of phosphorus,\u201d said MWRD Executive Director David St. Pierre. And because of the Ostara process, the MWRD claims the Stickney plant is ahead of schedule, already recovering enough phosphorus to drop its discharge to 0.5 milligrams per liter.<\/p>\n
The Ostara technology also essentially pays for itself as a revenue offset for the MWRD, according to agency officials. It turns the recovered phosphorus into non-water soluble fertilizer pellets, which are then sold as a product called Crystal Green.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s nice about this product is that the nutrient value gets to the plants and it doesn\u2019t dissolve in the water and runoff into the waterways,\u201d St. Pierre said.<\/p>\n
Other nutrient-recovery processes would be pricey, at a factor of ten times the current cost, according to St. Pierre. \u201cFor the taxpayers it\u2019s an excellent way to get to the type of numbers that we need to be responsible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Still, environmental groups insist that Ostara cannot be the only process the MWRD relies on to reduce phosphorous levels. Plus, it\u2019s not even installed at all of the MWRD\u2019s plants. \u201cOstara is only at Stickney, and that\u2019s pretty far downstream, so we need it installed at O\u2019Brien and Calumet also,\u201d said John Quail of Friends of the Chicago River.<\/p>\n
Both Quail and Alexander insist the MWRD must invest in new technologies in order to meet the levels the Illinois EPA will likely set next year. Chicago\u2019s MWRD is by far the largest wastewater discharger in the state of Illinois, so environmental groups are hopeful that if it can make an impact on Chicago\u2019s MWRD it can influence change statewide.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can get the MWRD to agree to do something then it\u2019s hard for somebody that\u2019s a lot smaller to say they can\u2019t do it,\u201d Quail said.<\/p>\n
Almost a year after the settlement between environmental groups and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, progress is inching forward in reducing dangerous levels of phosphorous in the Chicago River. By Morgan Levey Medill Reports It\u2019s common knowledge amongst environmentalists that phosphorus is a harmful nutrient in bodies of water, making them uninhabitable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":433,"featured_media":65306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3912,29,30],"tags":[632,91,3975,3982,3981],"class_list":["post-65302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2017","category-health-and-science","category-public-affairs","tag-chicago-river","tag-environment","tag-fall-2017","tag-mwrd","tag-phosphorous"],"yoast_head":"\n