Lake Michigan and BP

This morning, both the Sun-Times and the Tribune print editorials against BP’s new plan to dump additional waste into Lake Michigan, via its Whiting, Indiana, refinery. I guess BP rules the world. . . .

Earlier this week I expressed my disappointment with the Illinois EPA. Now I can express the same for the Indiana EPA. I’m going to the lakefront to sign the petition.

I drive through Indiana every time I visit my family in Michigan, and I usually fill up my tank there because gas is cheaper. I’m not going to do that anymore. The Michigan economy is really in trouble, so I’ll spend more there, instead. I want to see Indiana make a big effort creating jobs/industries that clean up the environment.

Chicago Water

This morning I learned that Chicago doesn’t disinfect its wastewater for viruses, bacteria, and pathogens. An Alliance for the Great Lakes report “Protecting Public Health, Caring for Chicago’s Waters: An Agenda for Action” released yesterday notes that only four major U.S. cities do not disinfect.

The other three cities falling down on the job are Memphis, Tenn., St. Louis, Mo., and Kansas City, Mo. But those cities are expected to disinfect in the near future.

The Alliance report recommends disinfecting through UV technology at a cost of $8.52 per person, and the Alliance President throws the Olympics out there as one of many reasons for investing in the city’s waterways.

I’m not excited about the possiblitiy of a Chicago Olympics, but if that would help this city fix public trans and clean up the water, maybe I should be.

News from the Great Lakes Conference

I drove down to UIC yesterday morning to catch a little of the “Sustainable Cities, Healthy Watersheds” Great Lakes Conference. The kids were in school, and the day’s programming was free to the public, but I was only able to catch one session. Still, I learned a lot, and I came home with a pile of literature.

Here, for example, is where the public can comment on the Great Lake Water Quality Agreement, which is currently under review. Comments will be accepted through July 14, 2007.

I also learned about the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory Program, where citizens can type in their zip codes and get a list of who’s releasing what into the local environment. Check it out (scroll down for the zip code thing).

Chicago Beaches

It’s officially beach season in Chicago (which means lifeguards on duty, daily testing for e. coli levels in Lake Michigan, and open bathrooms).

In years past I recall checking a website for beach closings, but I can’t find it on the City of Chicago website or the Chicago Park District website. I did find, however, the number for the Beach Hotline: 312-74-BEACH. I called. The message wasn't updated for today, but yesterday all beaches were safe for swimming.

I read a couple of news stories about BigBelly solar powered trash compactors, corn oil on sea gull eggs, and an improved test for e. coli concentrations that gives results in 4-6 hours instead of 24.

I’ll be curious to see if this new arsenal helps our beaches stay healthy this season.

The Future of Fresh Water

I just finished reading Peter Annin’s The Great Lakes Water Wars (Island Press, 2006), which examines the stormy history of water management policy in the Great Lakes Basin— from the reversal of the Chicago River in the late 1890s to the landmark Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact of 2005. The author argues that this non-binding regional compact needs to be ratified by all eight states in the basin in order to keep stewardship of Great Lakes water in the region. Otherwise, he contends, the Federal government could step in as steward.

Over the decades these states have cobbled together a water management strategy, but it's starting to disintegrate. Each passing decade brings new legal and political challenges to this policy—challenges such as exporting bottled water out of the region, or the shift in U.S. demographics as people flock to the Southwest.

Minnesota was first to pass the compact, last month.

Illinois is expediting that process right now. Illinois state rep Harry Osterman, from Chicago, is sponsoring HB375 (you can read some testimony here), and Illinois state senator John Cullerton, also from Chicago, is sponsoring a similar measure (SB50) to move this legislation to a full chamber vote.

The author’s website contains a map that shows how other states are progressing.

This ratification process will takes years, and in the meantime, more legal maneuvering for Great Lakes water will occur. Development follows fresh water, after all.

But I love this story; I love following it's various threads backward through U.S. history and forward to. . . who knows where. I got hooked on it a few years ago after reading Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert, which examined the history of water management west of the Mississippi.