Report - Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago

In June 2001, the Radiochemistry Laboratory was certified by the Illinois Emergency
Management Agency (IEMA), Division of Nuc1ear Safety for the radiochemical analysis of potable
water.
The certification programs administered by the IDPH and the IEMA follow guidelines
contained in the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEP A) Manual for the
Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water. These guidelines are compliant with
regulations issued pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Currently, no fees are charged for
certifications of the Analytical Microbiology Laboratory and the Radiochemistry Laboratory.
Use Attainability Analysis Study
The IEPA began the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) Use Attainability Analysis
(UAA) Study in 2002 to determine if these waterways can support a higher use designation
and meet the goals of the Clean Water Act. Most of these waterways are designated as Secondary
Contact and Indigenous Aquatic Life Use and an examination of this use designation has
been urged for several years by the USEP A. The District is committed in its National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to participate in and support the UAA Study.
The District is carrying out this commitment by making available all of the water quality and related
data from its monitoring activities and has developed an unsteady-state hydraulic and water
quality model of the waterway system. This model has proven useful in determining water quality
impacts associated with water quality improvement scenarios proposed as part of the UAA.
Since the IEP A submitted its UAA proposal to the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB),
(Docket Number R08-9) in October 2007, the District has been actively participating at the hearings
and has provided technical support through review of study reports, the conduct of a quantitative
microbial risk assessment for recreational use of the waterways, a review of the regulatory
criteria for bacterial standards, and provision of ambient water quality monitoring data. In
2010 the District, through the University of Illinois, completed the three year epidemiological
study of secondary contact use of the waterways, and also completed a waterways habitat evaluation
and improvement study, and filed the results of each with the IPCB in R08-9. Extensive
testimony was also provided on the results of the epidemiological study and its implications regarding
IEPA's proposed effluent limitations for fecal coliform bacteria.
Departmental Reports
During 2010, the Department published 62 formal reports dealing with various aspects of
the District's operations. A list of these reports is given in Table 1.
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