Commissioners from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) held their first private meeting with Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and met with legislative leaders during their annual visit to the state capitol in Springfield last month.
President Mariyana Spyropoulos, Vice President Barbara McGowan, Chairman of Finance Frank Avila and Commissioners Debra Shore, Kari Steele and Cynthia Santos discussed MWRD biosolids and other initiatives.
"Beneficial use of biosolids is one way to maximize public funds, and it is important that we provide members of the General Assembly an update on this type of work the district has underway," Spyropoulos said. "In addition to biosolids, we have major projects coming online this year and hope our elected officials can experience for themselves the magnitude and impact of these initiatives."
Two of the major initiatives coming online in 2015 are the Thornton Composite Reservoir, located in Thornton, Ill., and disinfection at the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) in Chicago. The Thornton Reservoir is part of the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan which is designed to protect 182,000 structures and serve 556,000 people in 14 communities throughout the south side of Chicago and south suburbs of Cook County. It will provide 7.9 billion gal of storage and $40 million per year in flood control benefits. Adding chlorination/dechlorination disinfection facilities at the Calumet WRP in Chicago will help improve water quality in the Chicago Area Waterway System.
Source: MWRD
