A cleaner Chicago River: What a gift that would be to Chicagoans.
For many years Chicago has, shamefully, been the only major U.S. city to pump partially treated sewage into a major waterway. The city has polluted the Chicago River because it was … convenient. Chicago has churned huge amounts of disease-causing bacteria into the water.
That could begin to change on Thursday.
The river’s stewards, the commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, are expected to drop their long opposition to tougher water quality standards for the river. A majority of the nine-member board appears ready to back an Obama administration plan to scrub the Chicago River and other area waterways.
A cleaner Chicago River: What a gift that would be to Chicagoans.
That wouldn’t just be a boon just for boaters or the tourists who stroll the river’s banks. It would be a bonanza for the businesses sprouting at water’s edge and the homeowners who have helped fuel an amazing river resurgence.
We don’t need to remind the commissioners of the river’s sad history. It once was an open sewer. Garbage clogged the banks. Industry dumped chemicals, creating toxic sediments.
Yes, it is cleaner now. But it can be cleaner still.
For years, the board has fought efforts to clean the river, arguing the cost was too high, the benefits and health risks were debatable. Locals heard flimsy excuse after excuse.
Last month, the feds finally said: Enough.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered a cleanup that would make the river safe even for swimming. The feds brushed aside MWRD arguments that disinfecting waste water would cost too much and provide insufficient benefits to justify the expense. The EPA says its program would cost the average homeowner less than $7 a month.
The feds didn’t give Illinois a choice. If state and local officials refused, the EPA said it would take over the job.
The MWRD should be leading the antipollution effort. Barring a delay, that could happen on Thursday.
We hope the votes are there. The district shouldn’t waste any more money on legal battles against higher water quality standards for the river.
This effort has the support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Mark Kirk. They know the stakes, and they recall the late Mayor Richard J. Daley’s dream of a Chicago River clean enough for fishing and swimming.
“We’re talking about the president’s hometown river,” Durbin said Wednesday after a Chicago forum he organized to push the issue. “It’ won’t be done overnight, but we need to start moving in the right direction.”
Come on, commissioners. Lead on this. Clean up the Chicago River.
