On May 11, 2011, U.S. EPA notified the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency ("IEPA") that Illinois' water quality standards for portions of the Chicago and Calumet Rivers needed to be upgraded to protect the health and safety of persons who utilize these waterways for recreational purposes. Currently, these waterways are designated as Secondary Contact Waters pursuant to 35 Ill. Admin. Code 303.441."Secondary Contact Waters" allow for some recreational uses but those uses are limited to uses where contact with the water is incidental or accidental and the probability of ingesting the water is minimal. Activities such as fishing and commercial and recreational boating are considered allowed uses under this designation. According to U. S. EPA, because there are now numerous opportunities for the public to access these waterways to engage in a variety of recreational activities where there is a potential for more than incidental or accidental contact with the water, Illinois' water quality standards must be modified. U. S. EPA has therefore directed IEPA to promulgate new or revised water quality standards that would be sufficiently protective of recreational activities such as swimming and canoeing on portions of the Chicago and Calumet Rivers. In the event that IEPA does not act on U.S. EPA's determination, U.S. EPA indicated that it will promptly propose new or revised regulations that provide for recreational use in and on these waterways. However, the U. S. EPA letter does not provide details as to how quickly it expects IEPA to act other than to state that IEPA needs to take action as "quickly as possible".
It is widely expected that any revision to Illinois' water quality standards will require the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (the "District") to disinfect partially treated sewage that is currently discharged without being disinfected into these waterways. The District has claimed that it would cost up to $1 billion to upgrade and operate the wastewater treatment system to enable it to disinfect the sewage prior to discharge while U.S. EPA has estimated the costs to be about $242 million. The District has continuously resisted efforts to require the sewage to be disinfected prior to discharge in part because most of the flow in the Chicago River particularly is from the discharge of partially treated sewage from the District's wastewater treatment plant.
For a copy of U.S. EPA's May 11, 2011 letter, please click here.