The State of Drinking Water in Illinois
By Yumna Baig, Zuviriya Anarwala and Dylan Strcic
The Great Lakes, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, provide the largest freshwater ecosystem on the Earth. Lake Michigan is one of the large providers of clean water in Illinois. Although Illinois has hundreds of thousands miles of streams, rivers, freshwater lakes, and ponds, it still faces issues in providing clean water to communities.
Many of these sources are contaminated with harmful bacteria and chemicals which negatively impacts the goal to have access to clean water and puts the consumers at risk of getting sick.
Water pollution is becoming an increasingly important problem around the world and Chicago is no exception.
The history of Chicago’s water pollution began toward the end of the 19th century when the city became a flourishing commercial hub. Due to the accessible location on the southern tip of Lake Michigan, Chicago quickly grew economically, industrially, and infrastructurally.
Chicago’s influx of population increased the output of sewage, forcing the once bountiful Chicago River, to become a communal gutter. It captured the waste of more than 1.5 million people, not including the waste from growing stockyards, flushing it directly into where Chicago sourced its drinking water- Lake Michigan.
The city’s largest source of fecal coliform was a product of the combined storm-sewer system designed in the 1850s. A time when freshwater was a seemingly endless resource, major rainfall was infrequent, and the population was one hundredth of what it is today. In 1885, a severe storm flooded the river, whisking a vast amount of putrid sewage to the lake. This environmental disaster caused enough distress to inspire a radical resolution by civic leaders of Chicago- reverse the river.
This impractical and expensive proposal was suggested by engineer Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough who believed that he could design a plan to reverse the direction of the Chicago River away from the lake and toward the Mississippi River instead. With the death toll at a record climax, this desperate effort to save the city from the doom of typhoid, cholera, and other waterborne illnesses was just crazy enough to work.
The reversal of the river was mostly successful and protected Lake Michigan from Chicago sewage, saving thousands of lives. Though the immediate issue diminished, other problems began to appear. The new water route flooded farmlands downstream, opened the gates for new invasive species, and polluted areas as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.Chicago has one of the best water sources available in Lake Michigan, but the water has to first be treated at the Jardine and Sawyer Water Purification Plants.
Missouri filed a lawsuit against the Sanitary District on behalf of St. Louis in 1900. Their argument was that the reversal of the Chicago River would eventually pollute the Mississippi, where it sourced its own drinking water. It was the first pollution case tried in the U.S. Supreme Court, but it was ultimately dismissed.
According to the EPA, The Clean Water Act (CWA) established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. This act provided local environmentalists a set of tools to hold industries and government agencies more accountable.
The Sanitary District is known as the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. It processes approximately 1.3 billion gallons of sewage every day and serves more than five million people. In recent years, the treatment of water waste by these organizations have begun to include disinfection.
Joshua Singer, the public affairs specialist from the U.S. EPA, said “Chicago routinely monitors the quality of the treated water which is reported to Illinois EPA”.
The Annual Water Quality Report for the period of Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2020 states that there were zero positive samples of Fecal Coliform, or E. Coli, in surface water. However, Lead and Copper are in the 90th percentile, the report claims is a violation and “likely source of contamination.”
Singer said that “the water meets drinking water standards” but added that “lead in the water could be an issue due to the pipes.” The lead pipe issue caused a devastating problem Flint, Michigan, for years. Lead poisoning can be fatal if the lead leaks too much.
The report adds that: “If present, elevated levels of Lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children. Lead in drinking water is primarily from materials and components associated with service lines and home plumbing. We cannot control the variety of materials used in plumbing components.”
The toxic chemicals that people put down their drains produce more pervasive problems. At most Chicago-area treatment plants, solids are filtered out first. Then, microorganisms eat the actual organic matter, or what’s left of the human waste, before the water is released into local waterways. The third and newest step — disinfection — kills the fecal coliform that all of that biohazardous waste left behind.
However, most paint thinner, household cleaning products, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals that people pour down their drains still make it through the treatment process and wind up in the river. They probably won’t make humans immediately ill, but they remain a danger to public health.
Today, Chicagoans in minority neighborhoods on the West and South sides have the largest risk of environmental hazards and toxic pollution. In Chicago, city officials frequently steer scrap yards, distribution warehouses, and other polluting businesses to the same neighborhoods with a large concentration of Latinos and African Americans.
Kory Rocco, a resident of Pilsen, was interviewed about his life-long experience with Chicago water pollution. He grew up in the neighborhood and says “it will always feel like home” but remarks on some of the inequalities the community faces.
He explains, “The infrastructure of Chicago is systemically racist. There is no coincidence that higher minority populations reside in the areas that report lower incomes. These neighborhoods also align with those with the most adverse health risks. There is a concentration of industrial companies that work out of these areas causing pollution, which impacts our quality of life.
Today, there are about 400,000 lead service lines delivering water to people’s homes in Chicago, according to the EPA. The U.S. EPA says that it is the responsibility of the homeowner and the city to change the lead pipes.
It should be noted that the drinking water standards placed by the EPA are not stable, and are becoming more and more unsafe as stated by Rush University Health. When asked about when water quality will become a true concern in Chicago and what is being done about the problem, the U.S. EPA gave no response.
For public health, lead in drinking water is not safe at all. Yet the U.S. EPA has 15 parts per billion as the limit of lead in drinking water, which is 10 ppb higher than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s limit on bottled water. Two drinking fountains in Chicago, namely at Gompers Park, measured a whooping 75 and 50 ppb when tested by the Chicago Tribune in 2018.
The interactive map created by the Natural Resources Defense Council, using EPA data, displays the neighborhoods of Chicago by “most burdened” to “less burdened.” Those most impacted are the communities of Little Village, Avondale, Humboldt, South Lawndale, Glendale, Pilsen, and almost all of the far southeast neighborhoods. Meanwhile, neighborhoods like Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville, Uptown, and Edgewater have the lowest burden of water and air pollutants.
This map also measures the demographics of each area by race and income. The scores for each Census block group were determined by tallying 11 environmental hazards and six sociodemographic factors. When comparing this map to another outlining “opportunity zones” or Section 8 Housing, there is a match, and possible correlation, between both affected areas.
Rocco endured the effects of consuming polluted water during his childhood. He was asked how he has been affected by water pollution to which he replied, “As a kid, I remember having a lot of stomach issues but it stopped once we started drinking bottled water in middle school.”
His mother was diagnosed with Scleroderma, a genetic disease that causes inflammation in the lungs. “Once she became immunocompromised,” Rocco says, “she had to be cautious about her environment. She was very vulnerable to pollution because poor air quality created severe complications to her lung disease and she was at a higher risk of infections from microbial contaminants in the water.”
Rocco and his family moved to West Lawn when he was around 16 to provide his mother with a safer environment. His mother had a lung transplant a little over two years ago and has made a full recovery. Rocco’s experience is an example of the harm that can be caused by polluted water, which is why solutions to keep water clean are extremely important.
“I think the most effective way to limit this issue is education on public health,” Rocco continues, “Obviously the government hasn’t done much to change this problem and the industrial sites are not moving from these areas. The best way to prevent people from going through the difficulties my family went through is to provide information to keep people as safe as possible”
The infographic below contains tips by the EPA on how to conserve water and prevent further water pollution.
A solution to eliminate these harmful elements is to reduce the amount of garbage and industrial waste that is dumped into fresh water which then pollutes potential clean water sources with toxic chemicals. Oftentimes these pools of water are filled with waste and plastic that only reduce the quality of water. In order to assure these sources of water are clean, they should be cleaned frequently and the public should be advised to throw their trash in their appropriate receptacles.
The U.S. EPA Region 5 Water Division, which specifically serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and 35 Tribal Nations, was interviewed regarding water quality in Illinois. When asked how water quality has changed in the past 10 years, they responded saying that “Raw water quality has generally deteriorated in the past 10 years” because “We live in an industrialized world where chemicals of all types are used.”
This is a serious issue because many of these toxic chemicals are not able to be broken down naturally, but are still deposited into water systems which even small amounts can seriously harm humans, plants, and animals. When asked how the public can assist in keeping water clean, they advised that individuals can help by “keeping chemicals from consumer products from getting into the water by disposing of things properly.” An example suggested by the EPA Region 5 was to keep motor oils out of storm sewers to prevent water pollution.
Another solution to keep water clean is to make sure no unnecessary items are thrown in the toilet such as tissues, wrappers, or any type of cloth. Sewage lines may be clogged as an effect of this which will result in difficulty in cleaning. This will not be an issue if the extra items are thrown in their designated areas rather than the toilet. Also, refraining from pouring toxic chemicals down the drain is imperative to resolving the issue of contaminated water in Chicago.
Stormwater being released into Lake Michigan is an issue that goes back to 1850. Stormwaters were being released into the lake to avoid flooding but this is a problem because stormwaters contain harmful bacteria that is picked up by flowing on the streets. This polluted water then goes into the lakes, rivers, and streams which makes the cleaning process more difficult. To manage and treat the stormwater, the sand filtration process, which is a method of removing suspended matter by flowing through sand or gravel, would be helpful in clearing these particles out of the water.
Sand filtration is a process that can also be done at home. Shewar Ibadat, the Director of Finance at the Paani Project, suggested in his interview that people use biosand filters at home if they feel their water is polluted and not safe to use. The Paani Project is a non-profit organization that deals with water pollution and builds wells in Pakistan to provide people with sanitary water. The EPA Region 5 also proposed the idea of using faucet filters or pitcher filters “if there are concerns about the water” at home. All of these solutions would guarantee better quality water.