May 18, 2011 – Friends of the Chicago River went on record this week as saying potentially infected sewage is bad for the river.

The conservation group American Rivers estimates that 1.2 billion gallons of “undisinfected” sewage is dumped into the Chicago River every day, making it one of America’s “most endangered” rivers. The group is asking the Illinois Pollution Control Board to approve new standards of water quality that would require the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) to disinfect sewage before it gets to the Chicago River.

Every major U.S. city disinfects its wastewater, according to American Rivers. Although the MWRD does disinfect effluent to the Des Plaines River in Chicago suburbs, it has insisted sewage is not a problem for the Chicago River.

On May 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the city of Chicago to make the Chicago River clean enough for recreational use. The city has resisted, claiming it would be too expensive, but last week a spokesperson for Rahm Emanuel said the new mayor supports the EPA “goals for improvement.”

On Tuesday, the executive director of Friends of the Chicago River, an organization dedicated solely to the Chicago River, released a statement in support of American Rivers. “The Chicago River is alive with people and possibility,” said Margaret Frisbie (left), “Already tens of thousands of people row, paddle, fish, dine, live and work along the river. Millions would if the water was cleaner and MWRD stopped fighting disinfection and worked with us to find the funding for it instead.”

According to American Rivers, 70 percent of the water in the Chicago River system is the liquid and solid waste found in sewers. Drinking water in Chicago comes from Lake Michigan and is treated by the MWRD.