Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Chicago beaches are closed again. You think the sewage in the river has something to do with that?

In today's Tribune here, the Chicago Park District has closed down almost all the city beachers due to high bacteria count. That means too much crap in the water.

The Park District spokesperson said that animal waste is to blame after a heavy rain.

Well, if animal waste is the problem, how come every beach in the damn world doesn't get closed when there's a heavy rain? Because there are animals (like sea gulls) around every beach.

You think the fact that the Chicago River is essentially an open sewer for the area's wastewater might have something to do with it? This government, the Greater Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, is the elected government responsible for our sewage. And last I heard, they are not disinfecting the wastewater before pouring it into the Chicago River. So when it rains, the sewage pours out of the river and into Lake Michigan. And then the beaches close, because there's too much sewage at the beach.

It is long past time to require the MWRD to disinfect all wastewater.

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