A new disinfection plant is sending cleaner water into Chicago’s waterways and bringing the city “into the civilized world” when it comes to sewage treatment, officials said at a Friday ribbon-cutting.
The new facility at the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant recently began cleaning 480 million gallons a day, serving about 1 million people in a 300-square-mile area that includes Chicago’s South Side.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin noted that Chicago was the last major city in the U.S. to disinfect its treated wastewater.
“This disinfection facility now brings Chicago into the civilized world when it comes to the treatment of sewage and the discharge,” Durbin said.
Susan Hedman, a regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said a 2011 audit by the EPA showed that water quality in Chicago’s rivers lagged behind federal standards.
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“Those water-quality standards needed to be upgraded to protect the recreational users of the river,” she said.
A task force was formed after the EPA released its findings, and local and state administrators fast-tracked what was once a 12-year cleanup plan into a four-year effort to build the Calumet facility. The state contributed $31 million for the plant, which will cost the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago roughly $3.5 million to operate and maintain each year, according to Durbin’s office.
The plant comprises six 17,000-gallon tanks that hold sodium hydrochloride and sodium bisulfate, two cleansing agents. These chemicals are filtered into a mazelike contact chamber, where the water and the chemicals mix and react. Once the water is treated, a process that lasts about 15 minutes, it is released back into the Calumet River system.
The chlorination/dechlorination process reduces the amount of bacteria — such as E. coli — in the water. The water is also treated through other processes, including screening, filtering, settling and microbial aeration, according to the water reclamation agency.
While chlorinated water can be harmful to the environment, the dechlorination process mitigates those effects, officials said.
“By the time it gets out to the river, the chlorine is completely neutralized,” said Mark Joyce, an engineer at the plant. “And we protect the wildlife on the downstream side.”
Another facility is under construction in Skokie that will use a different process — ultraviolet irradiation — to disinfect water north of the city. Administrators aim to have that plant operational by next year.
The Calumet facility reflects a broader effort by Chicago and its suburbs to embrace the recreational opportunities associated with local rivers. Sections of the Chicago Riverwalk were unveiled earlier this summer, along with riverside restaurants and boat rental shops.
Durbin said that while the Chicago River had only five fish species a few decades ago, today nearly 30 fish species prosper in its waters.
“The good news is the focus of economic development now in the city of Chicago and nearby is a focus on rivers,” he said.
In 2011, the EPA demanded that Chicago’s riverways be clean enough for “recreation in and on the water,” a legal term that includes activities such as swimming and canoeing.
Margaret Frisbie, executive director of the Friends of the Chicago River, praised the cleaner water that the plant is producing and said that while cleaning efforts must continue, she looked forward to the day when swimming would be allowed.
“We will all be on the river soon enough in kayaks, and in the not-too-distant future, in our swimsuits,” Frisbie said. “I look forward to seeing you there.”
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