Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago: a Utility
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OUR HISTORY ESSENTIAL SERVICES FINDING RELIEF Reversing the Chicago River, Treating Water and Protecting Solutions for Managing Stormwater Board of Commissioners Revitalizing a Community a Region’s Health and Building a Resilient Cook County Kari K. Steele Cameron Davis PAGE 6 PAGE 8 PAGE 16 President Kimberly Du Buclet Barbara J. McGowan Marcelino Garcia Vice President Josina Morita Frank Avila Debra Shore Chairman of Finance Mariyana T. Spyropoulos Brian A. Perkovich Executive Director ★ Metropolitan Water Reclamation 100 East Erie Street • Chicago, Illinois 60611-3154 YEARS District of Greater Chicago A UTILITY OF THE FUTURE Visit our facilities. To schedule a tour, call 312.751.6333 or email [email protected]. Tours are offered for groups of up to 25. mwrd.org Established in 1889, the MWRD is an award-winning, special purpose government agency responsible for wastewater treatment and stormwater management in Cook County, Illinois. Help protect our waterways and Think Inside the Box for sewer systems. unused medication disposal. Call our 1 (800) 332-3867 customer service hotline Never flush medications down the toilet or a drain. to report: Instead, use one of our safe collection sites: • Dead fish or other aquatic species Main Office Building UNUSED MEDICATION 100 E. Erie St., Chicago DISPOSAL • Foul or suspicious odors Open Monday - Friday: • Illegal or suspicious dumping to waterways 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. or sewers Calumet WRP • Waterway blockages 400 E. 130th St., Chicago Open seven days a week: All calls are logged and routed 24/7. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Submit reports online using our Citizen Incident O’Brien WRP Reporting (CIR) form at mwrd.org. In the far right 3500 Howard St., Skokie column, select “Report Odor, Water Pollution, Waterway Open seven days a week: Blockages, or Other Incidents.” 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Stickney WRP Get mobile Download our free CIR app for iOS 6001 W. Pershing Rd., Cicero devices from iTunes to submit an incident from your Open seven days a week: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. mobile phone. Search for MWRD CIR or visit: https://apple.co/2LTtEa8. Visit our website for a listing of medication collection sites located throughout Cook County. COVER PHOTOS: (Above): Trees and plant life sprout up on MWRD land leased to the Ladd Arboretum in Evanston along the North Shore Channel. The MWRD develops meaningful land use opportunities that protect the health and safety of the public, improve regional water quality, mitigate flooding and manage water as a vital resource.(Below): The MWRD cleans nearly 1.3 billion gallons of water per day at seven locations, including at Calumet Water Reclamation Plant, which has met national standards for 26 consecutive years despite the many unpredictable circumstances flowing its way from a 300-square-mile service area in Chicago and south suburbs. THE METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT OF GREATER CHICAGO The Utility for the Future You Can Rely On Every Day As the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) celebrates 130 years of dedicated service to the residents of Cook County and the Chicago area, we at the MWRD continue to build on an accomplished record of reliability and ingenuity in protecting the area waterways, public health and the environment. Throughout its history, the MWRD value to taxpayers, we also pride As a utility of the future, the has made an indelible imprint on ourselves in cleaning water in the MWRD is also educating the com- the Chicago area and the quality face of an evolving system of wa- munities it serves and working of life for all our residents. The ter treatment. Today, we are met with stakeholders to create aware- MWRD established this reputation with a changing climate, record ness for our water environment. for unfaltering dependability and rain events and an increased use By actively forming new partner- innovative leadership treating the in impervious pavement across ships, engaging the public and region’s wastewater, managing our flat terrain. As a result, we urging our communities to consid- stormwater and protecting our are continuously challenged to er the countless ways we can all water resources. While our gen- find comprehensive solutions to contribute to improving our water erations of service are historically manage stormwater and prevent environment, we are taking a role significant, there are many more flooding, all while grasping emerg- of leadership, fostering collabo- exciting chapters on the horizon. ing technologies to improve local ration, broadening our reach and water quality and protect a river magnifying our impact. Since undertaking the extraordi- that is soaring in popularity. To The perseverance of the MWRD nary task of reversing the flow of meet this demand, we are de- is shown in the resiliency of Cook the Chicago River to protect Lake veloping new systems to reduce County. The MWRD continues to Michigan, the MWRD engaged in nutrients in our water, decreasing rise to the challenge to effectively more than a century of progress greenhouse gas emissions, con- manage stormwater and mitigate and continuous innovation to care serving and reusing water, recov- flooding, and that commitment is for our water environment. Those ering renewable resources, and expected to continue for gener- early commitments were aimed at maintaining a tradition of reliability ations to come. This publication protecting the public’s health and and resourcefulness that has will highlight the many ways the water resources, and while the become a hallmark for our agency MWRD has grown to become the MWRD maintains that same level across the region. of excellence at an exceptional utility of the future you can rely on every day. In its daily role of recovering resources and transforming water, the MWRD is protecting the regional water environment and mitigating flooding through its 109 miles of tunnels serving the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (above), recovering nutrients from water to be reused as fertilizer (above right) and Cleaner waterways spurred by the work of the MWRD has led to healthier aquatic life as well processing biosolids to be reused as compost and other soil amendments to help grow plant life (bottom right). as increasing opportunity for economic development, recreational activity, transportation and social interaction along the Chicago River and the creation of the Chicago Riverwalk. 2 3 Financial Summary The MWRD maintains a strong financial position with a AAA bond rating from Fitch Ratings and a AA+ bond rating from Standard & Poor’s Corporation. The MWRD performs incredibly erty within the MWRD’s corporate capturing renewable energy from important services for more than limits as applies to a home with an our own systems. The MWRD also 5.25 million residents in Cook average value of $302,552. utilizes a strong asset manage- County, while striving to add ment plan to maintain its facilities Sewer service, however, is only value to that meaningful work in the most economically and en- part of the value that the MWRD at a fraction of the cost of other vironmentally sustainable manner provides to its constituents every utilities. Our daily treatment of 1.3 possible. day. In addition to our daily role billion gallons of wastewater per meeting treatment obligations The MWRD’s 2019 budget is $1.2 day is critical to defending public at our seven water reclamation billion. This supports day-to-day health, and providing this service plants (WRPs), managing stormwa- operations and general expen- at an affordable rate is an added ter for Cook County, completing ditures, bond redemption and bonus to the communities we vast Tunnel and Reservoir Plan interest, the MWRD’s Retirement serve. Fitch Ratings highlighted (TARP) projects and maintaining Fund, stormwater management the MWRD’s role providing an es- navigable waterways, we also add activities, insurance and a Capital sential service for the third largest value in unique ways. We have Improvement Program for desig- metropolitan area in the country. distributed more than 55,000 free nated projects and pay-as-you-go Projected capital expenditures tree saplings since April 2016; we capital projects. The MWRD’s over the next five years total $1.1 have acquired 58 flood-properties current operations are funded billion, which Fitch Ratings said, in partnership with local municipal- primarily through property tax “equates to a very manageable ities and the Cook County Land receipts. Other revenue sources approximately $70 per customer” Bank Authority; we lease approx- include user charge revenues, living in the MWRD’s 882-square- imately 75 percent of non-cor- personal property replacement mile-service-area. porate land holdings to public tax receipts and land rentals. The A single-family residence across agencies for parks and riverfront Capital Improvement Program is the country paid an average of recreation; we are participating funded primarily through State $501 per year in 2017 for waste- in groundbreaking research to Revolving Fund loans and general water collection and treatment, understand the microbial health obligation bond sales. Guided Students participate in a also known as the sewer service and composition of area water- by robust financial policies, the planting day at Daniel J. Corkery Elementary School charge, according to the Nation- ways and we will generate over MWRD preserves a Corporate through the Space to Grow al Association of Clean Water 550,000 lab tests at the seven Fund reserve to provide for un- program. The MWRD Agencies (NACWA) 2017 Cost of WRPs in 2019 that will improve expected shortfalls in revenue or invests in Space to Grow with local partners Clean Water Index. By contrast, operations and the ensure the economic uncertainty. The MWRD to transform Chicago the MWRD sewer service charge quality of water in our waterways is also committed to increasing schoolyards into green, was $344.25 in 2017.