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Friday, September 14, 2007
Environment - Chicago River's link to illness studied
Michael Hawthorne of the Chicago Tribune, who wrote one of the first stories on Indiana's BP permit, reports today:
Most of the water in the Chicago River is treated sewage loaded with bacteria, but officials contend they shouldn't be forced to clean up the waterway unless a newly commissioned study finds people are getting sick from the murky flow.Under pressure from Mayor Richard Daley and others to turn the stagnant canals into civic amenities, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District asked researchers to survey folks who dip a canoe or kayak into the river during the next year. The goal is to compare their rates of illness to the rates for people who swim in Lake Michigan or have no contact with either body of water. * * *
Until the district commissioned the study, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency had been on track to move forward with standards that for the first time would limit the amount of bacteria allowed in the river. Environmental groups grumble that the study could delay or scuttle those efforts.
District officials are drawing up plans to disinfect the region's treated sewage, something most other large cities already do. But they also argue that it might not be worth it to clean up the river. * * *
he project is another sign of changing attitudes about an erstwhile prairie stream that for more than a century has been seen as little more than an industrialized sewage canal.
Chicago reversed the flow of its river in 1900 to keep the burgeoning city's waste out of Lake Michigan, its source of drinking water. For decades the river was fenced off to prevent human contact and was exempt from the toughest requirements of the Clean Water Act.
But with water quality steadily improving, people have been increasingly drawn to the dredged and straightened channels for recreation.
Environmental advocates say there's no doubt that bacteria levels in the Chicago River are higher than what is allowed in other waterways. They note that Chicago is the only large U.S. city that doesn't disinfect its treated wastewater, a throwback to days when officials assumed people wouldn't come near the river.
"Times have changed and the standards need to change with the times," said Margaret Frisbee, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River, an advocacy group that organized Sunday's canoe race. "This study will show us what we already know: The river isn't clean enough for human contact."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 14, 2007 08:38 AM
Posted to Environment