Chicago Announces $50 Million Green Infrastructure Plan

Today Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a new water infrastructure plan that commits $50 million to green infrastructure that allows stormwater to infiltrate into the ground. His action will reduce the amount of pollution to the Chicago River by reducing the amount of stormwater that flows into our combined sewer system, and ultimately the Chicago River, picking up pollutants along its way.

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Stormwater Ordinance Passes!

After years of advocacy by Friends of the Chicago River, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, Sierra Club of Illinois, Center for Neighborhood Technology and Openlands, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago adopted a new Watershed Management Ordinance Thursday, October 3 that is essential for preventing floods, protecting wetlands and safeguarding our rivers and streams.

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Chicago River Wildlife Cruise a Total Sell Out

On September 28, Friends' education manager, Mark Hauser, served as a key expert on the Chicago Tribune's second Chicago River Wildlife Cruise. This time they traveled down the South Branch to Bubbly Creek spotting a multitude of birds and other creatures including black crowned and great blue herons.

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Disinfection Digging Starts

 Thirteen years after Friends first called for sewage treatment plant effluent disinfection in our report, Waterways for Our Future, yesterday the ceremonial shovels hit the ground.

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Garbage Impacts Chicago River's Health

The Chicago River is no longer the dumping ground it used to be, yet there is still plenty of garbage thoughtlessly discarded near and in the river not to mention what flows in during rain events or combined sewer overflows. Find out how that garbage impacts the river's health through a new study.

 

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