Monday, July 26, 2010

"60 billion gallons of rain fell on Cook County on Friday night, according to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s (MWRD) president Terrence O’Brien. The rain was too much for the Deep Tunnel – the underground network of water reservoirs. They hold water runoff during storms before it goes to the water treatment plant for cleaning, after which it will flow into one of the water channels in and around Chicago. But the storms on Friday were too much – the MWRD had to release sewage into Lake Michigan because the reservoirs were full. This in turn forced the Chicago Park District to close the beaches."

Source

1 comment:

Steven Vance said...

Think of stormwater collection as traffic congestion. We can't "solve" it by building more places that store it (water or traffic).

We can build a more robust and comprehensive system that offers many options and opportunities for management.