Cleaning of Chicago River Amidst all the news about extreme weather and the rollback of environmental regulations, one recent headline stood out and offered a ray of hope. On Sept. 21, people celebrated the first public swim in the Chicago River in nearly 100 years. The sight of hundreds of swimmers jumping into the waterway that runs through the heart of downtown Chicago marked the culmination of more than four decades of collaboration between local, state, and federal agencies and environmental groups, including the nonprofit Friends of the Chicago River. Friends of the Chicago River was founded in 1979, not long after cofounder Robert Cassidy published the essay “The Friendless River,” where he decried the decades of abuse and neglect that had transformed the Chicago River from a great natural resource into an open sewer.
“The Chicago River is the city's most neglected natural resource,” Cassidy wrote. “It is overshadowed by Lake Michigan, disdained by environmentalists and outdoorsmen alike, neglected, fouled, and abused by industry and by all the rest of us. Nonetheless, it is the second greatest gift that nature has bestowed on this city.”
Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River, joins Living on Earth in this week’s show to share the inspiring story.
As she tells it, the 156-mile Chicago River has amazing history wrapped up in engineering marvel. The river once flowed east into Lake Michigan, the source of drinking water for Chicago and surrounding areas. However, the river was always treated like a stepchild. It had long been the receptacle of the area’s untreated sewage and stormwater runoff. In 1900, to protect the quality of Lake Michigan, engineers reversed the Chicago River. It now flows into the west from Lake Michigan to the Des Plaines River, before it joins the Mississippi River system, which meanders south before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.
Over the years, with the growth of the city, sewage plagued the river. Spills occurred regularly. In response, during the 1970s, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) came up with the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), one of the most ambitious and expensive public works projects in the region’s history.
Also known as the Deep Tunnel, TARP is a system of deep, large diameter tunnels and vast reservoirs designed to reduce flooding, improve water quality in Chicago area waterways, and protect Lake Michigan from pollution caused by sewer overflows, especially during periods of heavy rainfall, according to MWRD. Construction began in 1975 and is still underway.
Once the project is complete, likely in 2032, TARP will be able to hold 17.5 billion gallons. That is more than 4,666 gallons for each person in its service area, MWRD boasts.
Since the first portions of the system became operational in 1981, TARP has captured over a trillion gallons of combined sewage, according to MWRD. That’s contaminated water that could have ended up in the Chicago River. The cleaner Chicago River is not just a triumph of science and engineering. Frisbie said it’s also a major cultural milestone. Longtime area residents found it hard to imagine the river as a place to swim. They saw the river as a place to dump sewage – except on St. Patrick’s Day, when it’s dyed green.
Beyond the billion-dollar infrastructure projects, the river has benefitted from green infrastructure initiatives like swamp and marsh reclamation, restoring habitats for native species, and building walking trails. It’s crucial to build resilience in the face of climate change, Frisbie warns us. Given the warming of the planet, extreme rainfall events will tax TARP’s capacity. Still, Frisbie believes other cities with polluted urban waterways can learn from Chicago. The story of the Chicago River’s restoration is one of collaboration, persistence and not taking no for an answer, she said.
The restored health of the Chicago River gives us reason to hope.
Andrew Skerritt Senior Project Director / Senior Producer
