Every year American Rivers lists America’s Most Endangered Rivers, and every year the Chicago River is one of them.
Well, that may change in 2012.
American Rivers posts periodic updates about the dubious rivers they shame every spring, and the river advocacy group now says the Windy City’s twisting stream of sewage is cleaning up its image — and water.
For years the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has spewed bacteria-filled sewage into the river without disinfecting it by using ultraviolet light, which kills the germs. The EPA and environmental groups pushed the city for years to add the disinfection step — a step that almost every other major city does.
But the notion was that no one used the river.
The Chicago River's water is about 70 percent non-disinfected sewage. Photo: ser.ddima (Flickr)
And then urban adventure seekers started coming out of the woodwork. Paddlers and anglers started playing in sewage right in the middle of America’s third largest city. So this past spring the EPA told the city to adopt water quality standards that are safe enough for people to be in the water— or else.
The Illinois Pollution Control Board and the water reclamation district finally acquiesced.The city sent new standards to the feds, they were approved in November and water reclamation district officials have started planning to add the disinfection step at two of their plants by 2016.
So, not only might the river find its way off the infamous list but Chicagoans will soon not be playing in poop.
A win — win, I’d say.