Budget Message / Highlights - Metropolitan Water Reclamation ...

METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT OF GREATER CHICAGO
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
1837 Chicago was incorporated as a city. The city’s primary
source of drinking water is Lake Michigan.
1856 Sewers were constructed to collect the city’s waste. These
sewers emptied into the Chicago River ultimately
becoming a health hazard.
1860- Chicagoans suffered from diseases such as typhoid
1890 and dysentery transmitted through the drinking water
supply.
1885 A torrential rainstorm flushed pollution from the river
into Lake Michigan prompting public concern for ways to
safeguard the quality of the drinking water.
1886 A Drainage and Water Supply Commission was created
to study the growing problem of contamination of the
city’s water supply.
1889 Illinois Legislature passed an act enabling the
establishment of the Sanitary District of Chicago to keep
sewage pollution out of Lake Michigan. Referendum
passed.
1892 Ground was broken on the 28-mile Main Channel of the
Sanitary and Ship Canal. The canal would reverse the
flow of the Chicago River by linking it to the Des Plaines
River, and thus prevent pollution of Lake Michigan by the
river.
1900 Main Channel of the Sanitary and Ship Canal opened.
1907 Main Channel Extension including Lockport Powerhouse
and Lock completed.
1910 North Shore Channel completed.
1919 District’s Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance
committing the District to the construction and operation
of treatment plants.
1922 The 16-mile Calumet-Sag Channel became operational;
Calumet Treatment Plant placed into operation.
1928 North Side Treatment Plant placed into operation.
1930 U.S. Supreme Court Decree issued reducing diversion of
Lake Michigan in steps. Effective January 1, 1939,
diversion reduced to 1,500 cubic feet per second; West
Side Treatment Plant placed into operation.
1939 Southwest Treatment Plant placed into operation.
1949 West and Southwest Treatment Plants combined.
1955 District’s name changed to the Metropolitan Sanitary
District of Greater Chicago (MSDGC); the Chicago
Sewage Disposal System named one of the Seven
Wonders of Modern Engineering by the American
Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), recognizing the size
of the system, including intercepting sewers, treatment
plants, and waterways.
1956 Referendum, enabled by legislation, passed adding 412
square miles to the District.
1961 Lemont Treatment Plant placed into operation.
1963 Hanover Park Treatment Plant placed into operation.
1969 Board adopted the Sewage and Waste Control Ordinance,
prohibiting any waste discharge into Lake Michigan.
1971 Fulton County “Prairie Plan” began whereby abandoned
strip-mines were reclaimed into agriculturally productive
land; won “Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement
Award” from the ASCE.
1972 District adopted the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP)
as recommended by a committee of representatives from
the state, city, county, and MSDGC. The plan provided
for the collection, transportation, storage, and treatment of
combined rainwater and sewage that in periods of heavy
rain overflowed into waterways, underpasses, and
basements.
1975 Construction began on the 31-mile Mainstream tunnel
system; Egan Treatment Plant placed into operation.
1977 Construction began on the Calumet tunnel system.
1985 Mainstream tunnel system placed into operation-capable
of storing 1 billion gallons of combined sewage and
stormwater.
1986 Mainstream tunnel system received award for
“Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement” from the
ASCE; 9.2 mile Calumet tunnel system placed into
operation.
1988 Chicago Tribune reported, “As a result of an aggressive
cleanup program by the Metropolitan Sanitary District,
bold imaginative efforts are being taken by private
developers and the Chicago River is beginning to
challenge the lake front as Chicago’s premier attraction.”
1989 District celebrated 100th anniversary. As part of the
Centennial Celebration, the District changed its name to
the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater
Chicago.
1990 Army Corps of Engineers and the District began
construction of the O’Hare-CUP Reservoir, the first of
three reservoirs in the TARP program.
1992- District’s five Sidestream Elevated Pool Aeration Stations
1994 (SEPA) completed along the Calumet River system.
These stations add oxygen to the waterways to enhance
the aquatic environment. The District received
“Outstanding Civil Achievement of 1994” by ASCE for
these projects.
1998 O’Hare-CUP Reservoir placed into operation, capable of
storing 350 million gallons of combined sewage and
stormwater; construction of the Torrence Avenue leg of
the Calumet tunnel system began.
2000 District celebrated the 100th anniversary of the reversal of
the Chicago River and completed a century of protecting
Chicago’s water environment; construction began on
Thornton Reservoir.
2001 ASCE named the District “One of the Monuments of the
Millennium.”
2004 By an act of the Illinois Legislature, the District became
responsible for stormwater management in Cook County.
2006 TARP Phase I 109-mile tunnel system completed.
2007 District celebrated 100 th anniversary of the Lockport
Powerhouse and Dam.