Chicago Tribune

Tribune staff reporter

11:27 a.m. CDT, April 18, 2011

The Tribune's March 20 article, "Feds probe chronic sewage overflows into lake, streams," provided an incomplete picture of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago's (MWRDGC) services in general and, more specifically, the Deep Tunnel project's effectiveness in protecting water quality and public health.

The article provided little historical context for the incredible engineering feats that Chicago's sewer system represents. It failed to describe the work of the public agency and its employees as stewards of both the environment and of the ratepayers -- whether homeowners or business owners -- who ultimately bear the full cost of these programs.

Furthermore, the article provided insufficient emphasis on the changed financial picture from when the project was initiated after the passage of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972 and through the subsequent decades to today's ongoing economic downturn. After the 1972 passage of the CWA, the federal government was a full investment partner, providing nearly 70 percent of the funds for capital projects. As time went on, the Environmental Protection Agency's investment fell, transitioning from a grants program to a loan program in the 1980s with enormous cuts to the amount of the federal share. Today federal funds account for less than 3 percent of the costs despite ramped-up federal regulatory requirements, massive local and national infrastructure funding needs, and local ratepayers who are now shouldering almost the entire cost of water quality improvements alone.

Since 1972, cities across the country, including Chicago, were also faced with new and unfunded federal requirements as the CWA's regulatory program was implemented, leading to costly pretreatment and biosolids management programs to increasingly stringent overflow control and water quality standards. These additional requirements demanded significant investment and while they led to water quality and public health benefits, they also added financial stressors to an already limited local revenue base.

The Tribune stated that MWRDGC's record on overflows is worse since the tunnel went into operation in 1985 but did not describe how the tunnels were constructed in phases, with the current tunnel network completed in 2006. Since then, overflows were caused by extreme weather the most rain in one day in Chicago's history in September 2008, the fourth wettest year on record in 2009, and the most precipitation ever for the month of July in 2010. The two storage reservoirs currently under construction will complete the Deep Tunnel system and prevent or greatly reduce most of these types of overflows.

Also, the article does not discuss how many billion gallons of wastewater was captured and treated over the course of the project's progress -- the number is staggering at 1.1 trillion gallons since the start of the project in 1975. The timeline provided in the article points to 14 days over a 25 year period where there were overflows. There were 9,111 days over that period where the timeline didn't register how effectively MWRDGC and the Deep Tunnel worked. Shouldn't the article have recognized these facts and applauded as exemplary MWRDGC's record of success?

That the system is being continuously improved over time should not be overshadowed by the article's implication that it is somehow failing. And that the ratepayer can only provide the dollars to make finalizing the program a reality in an affordable manner over time must not be mischaracterized as a failure simply because it cannot be brought to pass tomorrow. Everyone wants perfection and completion immediately, but the engineering and financial complexity of this project demands patience, discipline and dedication.

Like most cities in the Midwest, Chicago must not only improve and build new infrastructure, it must also maintain its aging infrastructure -- much of which has been in use for over the past 100 years. Furthermore, the natural water systems have been altered by development, with a high proportion of impervious surfaces leading to excessive runoff from rainfall and melting snow. Protecting and restoring waterways under these conditions is difficult.

Yet MWRDGC is at the cutting edge of practices that are sustainable, from using green infrastructure technologies to becoming more energy self-sufficient. Like facilities across the country, MWRDGC is becoming a far more sophisticated 21st century utility than was ever imagined back in 1972, but this progress can only be sustained by protecting the rate-paying households and industries that are the backbone of the great city of Chicago. Other cities and communities are facing bankruptcy and bond downgrades because of overaggressive planning on sewer projects and expansions. This is something MWRDG is trying to protect Chicagoans from by having realistic planning horizons.

To this end, MWRDGC and local utilities are increasingly seeking to work in partnership with key non-governmental organizations, states and regional and federal partners on solutions that make sense and are based on sound science and viable economic planning. There is a need for a new approach that provides public agencies with the ability to prioritize CWA projects in a way that maximizes each ratepayer dollar and the water quality benefits of this investment. This is why NACWA is leading a "Money Matters -- Smarter Investment to Advance Clean Water" campaign that is aimed at bringing the CWA into the 21st century.

Working together we can and we will protect the water environment in Chicago and the nation's cities for generations to come.

-- Ken Kirk, Executive Director, The National Association of Clean Water Agencies, Washington, D.C.