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150-501: The MWRD is governed by a nine-member Board of Commissioners elected at large from throughout Cook County, Illinois for six-year terms. Terms are staggered so that three commission chairs are open every two years. Bi-annually the board elects from its members a President, Vice President, and Chairman of Finance. All of the commissioners receive $ 70,000 per year, except the Vice President and Chairman of Finance receive $ 75,000, and

300-471: A 12 mm pipe, plus ball valve, and then supply the house on 22 or 28 mm pipes. Gravity water has a small pressure (say 1 ⁄ 4 bar in the bathroom) so needs wide pipes to allow for higher flows. This is fine for baths and toilets but is frequently inadequate for showers. A booster pump or a hydrophore is installed to increase and maintain pressure. For this reason urban houses are increasingly using mains pressure boilers ("combies") which take

450-666: A Ministry of Public Works (such as in Ecuador and Haiti ), a Ministry of Economy (such as in German states) or a Ministry of Energy (such as in Iran ). A few countries, such as Jordan and Bolivia , even have a Ministry of Water. Often several Ministries share responsibilities for water supply. In the European Union, important policy functions have been entrusted to the supranational level. Policy and regulatory functions include

600-847: A National Historic Corridor. The two canals and the Great Lakes cemented trade ties between the Midwest and the Northeast, encouraging farmers to grow more than they needed to feed themselves in Illinois, with a large market for grain now open to them. Towns in Cook County along the Canal grew. From a national perspective, the trade ties made the South region of the US less important to the Northeast as

750-513: A Presidential election three times, all during national Republican landslides– Dwight Eisenhower over native son Adlai Stevenson II in 1952 and 1956, and Richard Nixon over George McGovern in 1972. Since then, the closest a Republican has come to carrying the county was in 1984, when Ronald Reagan won 48.4 percent of the county's vote. In 2020, 74 percent of the county voted for Joe Biden and 24 percent voted for Donald Trump . In 1936, with Franklin D. Roosevelt receiving 1,253,164 votes in

900-714: A brass foundry in Rotherham . The first documented use of sand filters to purify the water supply dates to 1804, when the owner of a bleachery in Paisley, Scotland , John Gibb, installed an experimental filter, selling his unwanted surplus to the public. The first treated public water supply in the world was installed by engineer James Simpson for the Chelsea Waterworks Company in London in 1829. The practice of water treatment soon became mainstream, and

1050-720: A component of TARP, over 152 billion pounds of 400 million year old dolomite limestone was blasted and removed. Located along interstate 80 in southern Cook County, the Thornton Composite Reservoir, an important component of the MWRD's TARP, went into operation on December 31, 2015. The Thornton Composite Reservoir came online at the same time as disinfection facilities at the MWRD’s Calumet Water Reclamation Plant in Chicago, which also serves

1200-566: A component of effective policy for health protection." In 1990, only 76 percent of the global population had access to drinking water. By 2015 that number had increased to 91 percent. In 1990, most countries in Latin America, East and South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa were well below 90%. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where the rates are lowest, household access ranges from 40 to 80 percent. Countries that experience violent conflict can have reductions in drinking water access: One study found that

1350-611: A conflict with about 2,500 battle deaths deprives 1.8% of the population of potable water. Typically in developed countries , tap water meets drinking water quality standards , even though only a small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. Other typical uses for tap water include washing, toilets, and irrigation . Greywater may also be used for toilets or irrigation. Its use for irrigation however may be associated with risks. Throughout history, people have devised systems to make getting and using water more convenient. Living in semi-arid regions, ancient Persians in

1500-493: A consumption level of 15 cubic meters per month. Few utilities do recover all their costs. According to the same World Bank study only 30% of utilities globally, and only 50% of utilities in developed countries, generate sufficient revenue to cover operation, maintenance and partial capital costs. According to another study undertaken in 2006 by NUS Consulting, the average water and sewerage tariff in 14 mainly OECD countries excluding VAT varied between US$ 0.66 per cubic meter in

1650-438: A daily average flow of 52 million gallons per day (MGD), a capacity of 100 MGD and operates 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks per year. The Kirie WRP serves 65.2 square miles and approximately 217,000 people. The MWRD originally embarked on the project due to increases in energy costs and the desire to become more environmentally friendly. The Kirie system is one of the first to use wastewater for heat recovery and provides

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1800-467: A deep valley, it will have the same nominal pressure, however each consumer will get a bit more or less because of the hydrostatic pressure (about 1 bar/10 m height). So people at the bottom of a 30-metre (100 ft) hill will get about 3 bars more than those at the top. The effective pressure also varies because of the pressure loss due to supply resistance, even for the same static pressure. An urban consumer may have 5 metres of 15-mm pipe running from

1950-701: A few cases such multi-utilities also collect solid waste and provide local telephone services. An example of such an integrated utility can be found in the Colombian city of Medellín . Utilities that provide water, sanitation and electricity can be found in Frankfurt , Germany (Mainova), in Casablanca , Morocco and in Gabon in West Africa. Multi-utilities provide certain benefits such as common billing and

2100-514: A great degree of autonomy. In the United States regulatory agencies for utilities have existed for almost a century at the level of states, and in Canada at the level of provinces. In both countries they cover several infrastructure sectors. In many U.S. states they are called Public Utility Commissions . For England and Wales, a regulatory agency for water ( OFWAT ) was created as part of

2250-429: A huge amount of capital investment in infrastructure such as pipe networks, pumping stations and water treatment works . It is estimated that in developing countries investments of at least US$ 200 billion have to be made per year to replace aging water infrastructure to guarantee supply, reduce leakage rates and protect water quality. International attention has focused upon the needs of developing countries . To meet

2400-424: A long time to fill a bath but suit the high back pressure of a shower. A great variety of institutions have responsibilities in water supply. A basic distinction is between institutions responsible for policy and regulation on the one hand; and institutions in charge of providing services on the other hand. Water supply policies and regulation are usually defined by one or several Ministries, in consultation with

2550-410: A mandate to settle complaints by consumers that have not been dealt with satisfactorily by service providers. These specialized entities are expected to be more competent and objective in regulating service providers than departments of government Ministries. Regulatory agencies are supposed to be autonomous from the executive branch of government, but in many countries have often not been able to exercise

2700-459: A model for heating and cooling energy needs at other MWRD facilities. The sewerthermal system will take advantage of relatively constant high temperatures of effluent water and will use only 20 percent or less power than what is needed for a traditional, direct heating system. Rather than extracting heat from the ground as is common for geothermal systems, the MWRD’s system is designed to extract heat from

2850-713: A new energy source using an $ 87,500 grant provided by the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation in 2010; the funding helps to cover the total $ 175,000 cost. The partnership resulted in significant energy and cost savings at the Kirie Water Reclamation Plant (WRP). Savings include a 25 to 50 percent reduction in electricity usage for heating and cooling needs as well as reductions in maintenance expenses and pollutants associated with separate heating and cooling systems. University of Illinois news The Kirie WRP has

3000-496: A poor or very poor quality of service. Continuity of water supply is taken for granted in most developed countries but is a severe problem in many developing countries, where sometimes water is only provided for a few hours every day or a few days a week; that is, it is intermittent . This is especially problematic for informal settlements , which are often poorly connected to the water supply network and have no means of procuring alternative sources such as private boreholes . It

3150-491: A record of corruption. The most successful Republican candidate for mayor since then was Bernard Epton , who in 1983 came within 3.3 percentage points of defeating Democrat Harold Washington . The county's Republican Party organization is the Cook County Republican Party . The last Republican governor to carry the county was Jim Edgar in his 1994 landslide . The last Republican senator to do so

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3300-627: A sanitary district due to a booming population, the fear of waterborne illness, the quality of the drinking water supply in Lake Michigan and a contaminated river, but two previous attempts at legislation in the Illinois General Assembly had been stalled over concerns of discharging used water downstream. A special commission consisting of Chicago Mayor John Roche, two members of the Illinois House and two members of

3450-447: A sewer, sending waste water through treatment plants and sending it away from Lake Michigan. It is also a waterway for movement of ships. The next major technology for transportation was railroads. Chicago and the towns along the canal and rivers understood the value of being a hub of a major network. Rail lines spurred out from Chicago by the 1850s, with major growth in the rail network for freight and passenger transportation coming after

3600-466: A single city, town or municipality . However, in many countries municipalities have associated in regional or inter-municipal or multi-jurisdictional utilities to benefit from economies of scale . In the United States these can take the form of special-purpose districts which may have independent taxing authority. An example of a multi-jurisdictional water utility in the United States is WASA ,

3750-407: A small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs. Water supply is a separate topic from irrigation , the practice and systems of water supply on a larger scale, for a wider variety of purposes, primarily agriculture . Water supply systems get water from

3900-557: A sustained improvement track, but many others keep falling further behind best practice. Benchmarking the performance of utilities allows the stimulation of competition, establish realistic targets for improvement and create pressure to catch up with better utilities. Information on benchmarks for water and sanitation utilities is provided by the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities. The cost of supplying water consists, to

4050-596: A trade partner. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal , completed in 1900, largely replaced the functions of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. This canal resulted in the reversal of the direction of flow of the main stem and the South branch of the Chicago River; they used to empty into Lake Michigan and now those river sections flow toward the Des Plaines River . The Sanitary and Ship Canal was built to serve many aims, including ending using Lake Michigan as

4200-495: A trading post village with a little over six hundred residents to four million, rivaling Paris by the Great Depression . During the first half of the 20th century it had the absolute majority of Illinois's population. There are more than 800 local governmental units and nearly 130 municipalities located wholly or partially within Cook County, the largest of which is Chicago. The city is home to approximately 54 percent of

4350-576: A trickle of water or so high that it leads to damage to plumbing fixtures and waste of water. Pressure in an urban water system is typically maintained either by a pressurised water tank serving an urban area, by pumping the water up into a water tower and relying on gravity to maintain a constant pressure in the system or solely by pumps at the water treatment plant and repeater pumping stations. Typical UK pressures are 4–5 bar (60–70 PSI ) for an urban supply. However, some people can get over eight bars or below one bar. A single iron main pipe may cross

4500-485: A typical consumption of 15 cubic meters per month vary between less than US$ 1 and US$ 12 per month. Water and sanitation tariffs, which are almost always billed together, can take many different forms. Where meters are installed, tariffs are typically volumetric (per usage), sometimes combined with a small monthly fixed charge. In the absence of meters, flat or fixed rates—which are independent of actual consumption—are being charged. In developed countries, tariffs are usually

4650-759: A utility serving Washington, D.C. and various localities in the state of Maryland . Multi-jurisdictional utilities are also common in Germany, where they are known as "Zweckverbaende", in France and in Italy. In some federal countries, there are water service providers covering most or all cities and towns in an entire state, such as in all states of Brazil and some states in Mexico (see Water supply and sanitation in Mexico ). In England and Wales , water supply and sewerage

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4800-516: A utility to better locate distribution losses (technical objective). Fourth, it allows suppliers to charge for water based on use, which is perceived by many as the fairest way to allocate the costs of water supply to users. Metering is considered good practice in water supply and is widespread in developed countries, except for the United Kingdom . In developing countries it is estimated that half of all urban water supply systems are metered and

4950-423: A variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater ( aquifers ), surface water ( lakes and rivers ), and the sea through desalination . The water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification , disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation . Treated water then either flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs , which can be elevated such as water towers or on

5100-418: A very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to a small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). The full cost of supplying water in urban areas in developed countries is about US$ 1–2 per cubic meter depending on local costs and local water consumption levels. The cost of sanitation (sewerage and wastewater treatment )

5250-434: A viable solution including Rainwater harvesting and Stormwater harvesting where policies are eventually tending towards a more rational use and sourcing of water incorporation concepts such as "Fit for Purpose". Water supply service quality has many dimensions: continuity; water quality ; pressure; and the degree of responsiveness of service providers to customer complaints. Many people in developing countries receive

5400-458: A vote. In 2004, Blue Island mayor Donald E. Peloquin organized a coalition of fifty-five south and southwest suburban municipalities to form a new county, also proposing the name Lincoln County . The county would include everything south of Burbank , stretching as far west as Orland Park , as far east as Calumet City , and as far south as Matteson , covering an expansive area with a population of over one million residents. Peloquin argued that

5550-590: Is "dictating its views" to the rest of the state and Brown added that Chicago "overshadows" the rest of Illinois. Construction of the Erie Canal in New York State made a connection from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes in 1821. As the Midwest farms proved productive, with much grain to sell to other parts of the US, Chicago and Cook County saw the benefit of a canal to improve the link from

5700-622: Is also a risk that staff are appointed mainly on political grounds rather than based on their professional credentials. International standards for water supply system are covered by International Classification of Standards (ICS) 91.140.60. Comparing the performance of water and sanitation service providers ( utilities ) is needed, because the sector offers limited scope for direct competition ( natural monopoly ). Firms operating in competitive markets are under constant pressure to out perform each other. Water utilities are often sheltered from this pressure, and it frequently shows: some utilities are on

5850-457: Is also experimenting with algae as a nutrient remover at the O’Brien WRP. It can be used as fertilizer, in a digester, or as aquaculture feed, which returns the phosphorus to the nutrient cycle . The MWRD can produce 24 tons of algae a day. This could potentially stimulate the Chicago regional economy by locating a plastics partner near the treatment plant and reduce reliance on petroleum. The MWRD

6000-534: Is also used to deliver that water, and more fresh water from the region’s drinking supply in Lake Michigan is also conserved. In addition to being harnessed, water itself is also reused directly by the treatment process. Every day, 15.1 million gallons are reused in pipeline flushing, blower motor cooling, post-centrifuge centrate flushing, and tank cleaning. At the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, 6 million gallons of treated water per day

6150-559: Is an essential governance reform in order to reduce the high levels of Unaccounted-for Water (UAW) and to provide the finance needed to extend the network to those poorest households who remain unconnected. Partnership arrangements between the public and private sector can play an important role in order to achieve this objective. An estimated 10 percent of urban water supply is provided by private or mixed public-private companies, usually under concessions , leases or management contracts . Under these water service contract arrangements

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6300-454: Is another US$ 1–2 per cubic meter. These costs are somewhat lower in developing countries. Throughout the world, only part of these costs is usually billed to consumers, the remainder being financed through direct or indirect subsidies from local, regional or national governments (see section on tariffs). Besides subsidies water supply investments are financed through internally generated revenues as well as through debt. Debt financing can take

6450-687: Is available via the MWRD’s website about three days prior to each meeting. At least one public hearing is held between 10 and 20 days after new tentative budgets are made available to the public. Originally established as the Sanitary District of Chicago, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) has played a vital role in the history and health of the city of Chicago and 125 surrounding suburbs of Cook County, Illinois. The Sanitary District Enabling Act of May 29, 1889, established

6600-455: Is estimated that about half of the population of developing countries receives water on an intermittent basis. Drinking water quality has a micro-biological and a physico-chemical dimension. There are thousands of parameters of water quality. In public water supply systems water should, at a minimum, be disinfected—most commonly through the use of chlorination or the use of ultraviolet light—or it may need to undergo treatment, especially in

6750-448: Is insulated from arbitrary political intervention; and whether there is an explicit mandate and political will to allow the service provider to recover all or at least most of its costs through tariffs and retain these revenues. If water supply is the responsibility of a department that is integrated in the administration of a city, town or municipality, there is a risk that tariff revenues are diverted for other purposes. In some cases, there

6900-1148: Is land and 690 square miles (1,800 km ) (42.2%) is water. It is the sixth largest county in Illinois by land area, and the largest in total area. Most of the water is in Lake Michigan . The highest point is more than 950 feet (290 m), and is in northwest Barrington Township, in the northwest corner of the county. The lowest point is less than 580 feet (180 m), along the Lake Michigan shoreline. In July, temperatures in Chicago, Cook County average daytime highs of 84 °F (29 °C), and nighttime lows of 68 °F (20 °C); and January daytime highs of 31 °F (−1 °C), and nighttime lows of 18 °F (−8 °C). Winter temperatures will sometimes veer above 40 °F (4 °C), and, although not common, have also risen over 50 °F (10 °C) on some winter days. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 4.30 inches (109 mm) in June to 1.77 inches (45 mm) in February. The government of Cook County

7050-605: Is not always necessary for industrial use. In 2017, the MWRD Board of Commissioners established an introductory price of $ 1 per thousand gallons for the clean water they produce with the flexibility to adjust the price based on market conditions. They partnered with American Water and set a goal of supplying reused water to the industrial sector at the rate of about 10 million gallons per day. Industrial users pay higher prices for fresh Lake Michigan water. The MWRD believes water can be used more than once and provide value. Less energy

7200-704: Is of Hispanic descent. Asian Americans are a very sizeable racial group in the county, numbering about 301,000. The Asian population is ethnically diverse, and includes roughly 87,900 Indians , 61,700 Filipinos , 60,700 Chinese , 35,000 Koreans , 13,700 Vietnamese , and 11,100 Japanese . Roughly 30,800 are of other Asian ethnic groups, such as Thai , Cambodian , and Hmong . Approximately 3,000 residents are of Pacific Islander heritage. This group includes roughly Native Hawaiians , Guamanians, Samoans , and various people of other Pacific Islander groups. Hispanic and Latino Americans make up over one-fifth (22.8%) of Cook County's population. Roughly 1,204,000 Latinos live in

7350-752: Is overseen by the Cook County Board of Commissioners , with its president as chief executive, and Cook County Treasurer . Countywide state government offices include the Circuit Court of Cook County , the Cook County State's Attorney , the Cook County Sheriff , and the Cook County Assessor . Geographically, the county is the sixth-largest in Illinois by land area and the largest by total area. It shares

7500-624: Is primarily composed of the Board of Commissioners headed by the President of the County Board, other elected officials such as the Sheriff , State's Attorney , Treasurer, Board of Review, Clerk, Assessor, Recorder, Circuit Court judges, and Circuit Court Clerk, as well as numerous other officers and entities. Cook County is the only home rule county in Illinois. The Cook County Code is

7650-455: Is researching the sustainability of growing algae in a “vertical revolving” fashion; this would reduce the footprint to grow an equivalent algae biomass in a surface pond and simplify the harvesting process. The algae could remove at least 50 percent of phosphorus from wastewater and can be harvested and commoditized for production of bioplastics, biochemicals, biofuels, pharmaceuticals and dyes; or used as fertilizer or as aquaculture feed. The MWRD

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7800-582: Is supplied almost entirely through ten regional companies. Some smaller countries, especially developed countries, have established service providers that cover the entire country or at least most of its cities and major towns. Such national service providers are especially prevalent in West Africa and Central America, but also exist, for example, in Tunisia , Jordan and Uruguay (see also water supply and sanitation in Uruguay ). In rural areas, where about half

7950-485: Is supporting leading-edge research in this field to help make algae technology a practical and sustainable approach to nutrient management for urban wastewater treatment plants. During the water treatment process, the greenhouse research facility at the O’Brien WRP employs a technology called revolving algae biofilm reactors designed by Iowa State University scientists who originally applied it for agricultural applications. Biosolids are an environmentally friendly product of

8100-498: Is the largest single-site jail in the nation. The Cook County Juvenile Detention Center , under the authority of the Chief Judge of the court, is the first juvenile center in the nation and one of the largest in the nation. The Cook County Law Library is the second-largest county law library in the nation. The Bureau of Health Services administers the county's public health services and is the third-largest public health system in

8250-522: Is used, saving energy and money and reducing demand on drinking water. In addition, the MWRD is pursuing additional reuse applications for the high quality water produced at water reclamation plants. Working with large industrial users in the Calumet and Stickney corridors to find reuse opportunities could provide cost savings to the industrial users and increase fresh water availability for communities. The MWRD and University of Illinois at Chicago developed

8400-648: The Chicago Portage , beginning with the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848. This helped make the region a central transit hub for the nation. Chicago, with its location on the Great Lakes and via the St. Lawrence Seaway , is a global port city, giving Cook County an international shipping port. Cook County's population is larger than that of 28 U.S. states and territories , and larger than

8550-655: The Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Des Plaines River, Illinois River and Mississippi River. The Sanitary and Ship Canal was so successful that two more canals were built. In 1910, the North Shore Channel was completed to provide drainage for the marshy areas north of the city and to direct lake water into the North Branch of the Chicago River for dilution. The Cal-Sag Channel

8700-748: The Millennium Development Goals targets of halving the proportion of the population lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, current annual investment on the order of US$ 10 to US$ 15 billion would need to be roughly doubled. This does not include investments required for the maintenance of existing infrastructure. Once infrastructure is in place, operating water supply and sanitation systems entails significant ongoing costs to cover personnel, energy, chemicals, maintenance and other expenses. The sources of money to meet these capital and operational costs are essentially either user fees, public funds or some combination of

8850-475: The codification of Cook County's local ordinances . Cook County's current County Board president is Toni Preckwinkle . The Circuit Court of Cook County , which is an Illinois state court of general jurisdiction is funded, in part, by Cook County, and accepts more than 1.2 million cases each year for filing. The Cook County Department of Corrections , also known as the Cook County Jail ,

9000-527: The 1st millennium BC used qanat system to gain access to water in the mountains. Early Rome had indoor plumbing, meaning a system of aqueducts and pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains for people to use. Until the Enlightenment era , little progress was made in water supply and sanitation and the engineering skills of the Romans were largely neglected throughout Europe. It

9150-740: The Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance committing the MWRD to construct and operate sewage treatment plants to protect and preserve Lake Michigan, the source of drinking water for six million people living in Chicago, Cook County communities, and neighboring counties. The MWRD operates the largest water reclamation plant in the United States, the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in Cicero, Illinois , in addition to six other plants and 23 pumping stations . These seven plants range in capacity from 1.44 billion gallons per day at

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9300-515: The Board. The Treasurer is charged with maximizing investment interest, issuing bonds to meet capital requirements, managing any debts, and providing general financial management. The Executive Director also reports directly to the Board and manages the MWRD's day-to-day operations. There are eight departments: Engineering, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Law, Maintenance and Operations, Monitoring and Research, and Procurement and Materials Management. Heads of these departments report to

9450-763: The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and approximately 76 miles (122 km) of waterways, part of a national system connecting the Atlantic Ocean , Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. The MWRD oversees one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken—the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan , better known as the "Deep Tunnel Project." It includes over one hundred miles of tunnels, 9 to 33 feet (10 m) in diameter, each part of an extensive flood mitigation and pollution control project. The first phase of TARP

9600-566: The County Department of Transportation was instrumental in designing many of the expressways in the county, today they are under the jurisdiction of the state. The Cook County Forest Preserves , organized in 1915, is a separate, independent taxing body, but the Cook County Board of Commissioners also acts as its Board of Commissioners. The district is a belt of 69,000 acres (280 km ) of forest reservations surrounding

9750-545: The Des Plaines River. The facility is an integral part of the MWRD's task of managing the CAWS and reducing the risk of flooding throughout the MWRD service area.  The Lockport Powerhouse enables the MWRD to control the levels of the canal. In addition to its role in managing the waterways, the Lockport Powerhouse also provides financial benefits from hydroelectric power generation.  The water flowing through

9900-637: The District with the purpose of managing water supply and wastewater issues. Two important early projects included the reversal of the Chicago River , designed to carry wastewater away from Lake Michigan , and the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900 which aided in the flow of water away from Lake Michigan, the source of the region's drinking water. The canal also allowed for larger commercial vessels to move from

10050-525: The Executive Director as do the staff and support units of Administrative Services which includes the Diversity, Environmental Justice, Management and Budget, and Public Affairs sections. The Executive Director is Brian A. Perkovich. Public meetings are held twice per month (except during July and August) in the board room at 100 E. Erie Street, Chicago, IL. An electronic copy of the agenda

10200-534: The General Assembly approved “an Act to Create Sanitary Districts and to Remove Obstructions in the Des Plaines and Illinois Rivers.” The Enabling Act required a referendum establishing the boundaries of the District, roughly covering 185 square miles from the lakefront west to Harlem Avenue and from Devon Avenue on the north to 87th Street on the south. The District’s services were in such demand that

10350-495: The Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. The Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed in 1848, extending from the Bridgeport neighborhood in Chicago on the Chicago River, to the Illinois River at the cities of LaSalle-Peru. This canal spurred the growth of Chicago and the areas around it, as water travel was the primary way to ship grain or other commodities in that part of the 19th century. The Illinois and Michigan Canal ceased major operation in 1933. Portions are now designated as

10500-583: The Illinois General Assembly granted the MWRD stormwater management authority for Cook County, and since that time, the MWRD has been working to address regional flooding issues. In October 2013, the MWRD Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the Cook County Watershed Management Ordinance (WMO). The WMO provides uniform stormwater management regulations for Cook County in order to prevent future commercial, municipal, and residential development and redevelopment projects from exacerbating flooding. The WMO can be downloaded at http://wmo.mwrd.org . In June 2011,

10650-402: The Illinois Senate were appointed to gather public opinion and then buy-in for another round of legislation. The committee proposed constructing a canal wide enough to accommodate steamboat traffic, satisfying downstate interests. The chance to promote economic development linking the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico ultimately persuaded the rest of the state to adopt legislation. On May 29, 1889,

10800-442: The MWRD Board of Commissioners to break ground on the disinfection facility at the O’Brien WRP. Significant support for these projects came from local, state and federal leadership. In 2011, U.S. Senators Richard Durbin and Mark Kirk and Congressman Mike Quigley toured the Chicago area waterways and announced their support for the disinfection projects. In April 2012, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel , former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, and

10950-904: The MWRD Board of Commissioners voted to implement disinfection technology at the Calumet WRP in Chicago and the North Side (O'Brien) WRP in Skokie. By March, 2012, the MWRD selected the optimal technology for disinfecting the treated water at the Calumet and O'Brien Water Reclamation Plants after a blue ribbon task force evaluated all available disinfection technologies using a triple bottom line approach that considered economic, environmental and social criteria. On Sept. 16, 2013 former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman, former Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Lisa Bonnett, State Rep. Robyn Gabel, Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen and other area representatives joined

11100-545: The MWRD with the opportunity to evaluate both open and closed loop systems for efficiency and overall performance. The MWRD and UIC worked to develop a feasibility study for the Kirie WRP, including system design, equipment requirements, historical system data, space requirements and installation. The sewerthermal heat and cooling system harnesses energy from treated water and supplies the Kirie WRP with up to 40 percent of its heating and cooling energy needs. This plan provides

11250-411: The President receives $ 80,000. Commissioners act as the MWRD’s legislative branch establishing policies and procedures for meeting the goals of the District. Individuals who served as board presidents with the dates of their tenure listed: Individuals who served as board vice-presidents with the dates of their tenure listed: The Treasurer is the MWRD's chief financial officer and reports directly to

11400-668: The Stickney Plant to 4 million gallons per day at the Lemont Plant. A water reclamation facility usually contains two treatment plants. One is for processing the wastewater while the other is for treating the solids captured during the first process. Approximately 454 billion US gallons (1.72 × 10 m) were treated at the District plants during 2017. These plants have been very successful in meeting their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit limits. These limits are designed to protect and enhance

11550-513: The TARP tunnels went online, the average annual number of days with CSOs has been reduced to 50 from 100. The second phase of TARP involves the construction of three reservoirs which, when completed in 2029, will provide more than 18 billion gallons of storage capacity. Since 1998, when the MWRD executed an agreement with the owner of the Thornton quarry to mine the north lobe of the quarry for use as

11700-495: The U.S. EPA awarded the MWRD $ 10 million through the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program. That funding supplemented the $ 21 million in engineering and design costs needed to make the MWRD’s disinfection facilities possible. In addition to directly improving the water environment, the two disinfection projects created 750 construction, operations and support jobs. Construction was completed by December 2015 and disinfection

11850-687: The United States and the equivalent of US$ 2.25 per cubic meter in Denmark. However, water consumption is much higher in the US than in Europe. Therefore, residential water bills may be very similar, even if the tariff per unit of consumption tends to be higher in Europe than in the US. A typical family on the US East Coast paid between US$ 30 and US$ 70 per month for water and sewer services in 2005. In developing countries, tariffs are usually much further from covering costs. Residential water bills for

12000-527: The World Bank the average ( mean ) global water tariff is US$ 0.53 per cubic meter. In developed countries the average tariff is US$ 1.04, while it is only U$ 0.11 in the poorest developing countries. The lowest tariffs in developing countries are found in South Asia (mean of US$ 0.09/m3), while the highest are found in Latin America (US$ 0.41/m3). Data for 132 cities were assessed. The tariff is estimate for

12150-475: The beginning of the 21st Century, especially in areas of urban and suburban population centers, traditional centralized infrastructure have not been able to supply sufficient quantities of water to keep up with growing demand. Among several options that have been managed are the extensive use of desalination technology, this is especially prevalent in coastal areas and in "dry" countries like Australia . Decentralization of water infrastructure has grown extensively as

12300-441: The best forms of public management. As Ryutaro Hashimoto , former Japanese Prime Minister, notes: "Public water services currently provide more than 90 percent of water supply in the world. Modest improvement in public water operators will have immense impact on global provision of services." Governance arrangements for both public and private utilities can take many forms (Kurian and McCarney, 2010). Governance arrangements define

12450-484: The biosolids are now beneficially reused in Cook County. Air-dried biosolids look and feel like dark, fine-textured topsoil, and are used on turfgrass at golf courses, athletic fields, parks and other recreational areas, and for restoration of brownfields and other disturbed lands. To create a value-enhanced product, the MWRD partnered with the city of Chicago to co-compost woodchips from the city's routine tree trimming program and woodchips collected from ash trees lost due to

12600-427: The case of surface water . Water quality is also dependent of the quality and level of pollution of the water source. Water pressures vary in different locations of a distribution system. Water mains below the street may operate at higher pressures, with a pressure reducer located at each point where the water enters a building or a house. In poorly managed systems, water pressure can be so low as to result only in

12750-664: The city of Chicago. The Brookfield Zoo (managed by the Chicago Zoological Society) and the Chicago Botanic Garden (managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society) are located in the forest preserves. Cook County is the fifth-largest employer in Chicago. In March 2008, the County Board increased the sales tax by one percent to 1.75 percent. This followed a quarter-cent increase in mass transit taxes. In Chicago,

12900-788: The construction and repair of Chicago’s sewers are stored both physically and digitally as the Chicago Sewers Collection at the Harold Washington Library Center. The Lockport Powerhouse, located on the Main Channel Extension, Lockport, Illinois, was built in 1907 and marks the southwestern extent of the MWRD-managed Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS). The Powerhouse is located right before the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal connects with

13050-413: The county was $ 45,922, and the median income for a family was $ 53,784. Males had a median income of $ 40,690 versus $ 31,298 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 23,227. About 10.6% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over. As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the median home value in Cook County

13200-887: The county was 56.27% white, 26.14% Black or African American, 0.29% Native American, 4.84% Asian , 0.05% Pacific Islanders, 9.88% from other races, and 2.53% from two or more races. 19.93% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 9.1% were of Polish, 8.1% German, 7.9% Irish and 5.7% Italian ancestry. 17.63% reported speaking Spanish at home; 3.13% speak Polish . Whites (Hispanic and non-Hispanic) number roughly 2,793,500. There are about 2,372,500 non-Hispanic whites residing in Cook County. Sizeable non-Hispanic white populations are those of German (11.4%), Irish (10.3%), Polish (9.7%), Italian (6.1%), and British (4.1%) descent. There are also significant groups of Swedish (1.5%), Russian (1.5%), French (1.3%), Greek (1.2%), Czech (1.0%), Dutch (1.0%), Lithuanian (0.9%), and Norwegian (0.8%) descent. Black Americans are

13350-420: The county's population. Hispanics and Latinos (of any race) made up 24.0% of Cook County's population. As of the 2000 Census , there were 5,376,741 people, 1,974,181 households, and 1,269,398 families residing in the county. The population density was 5,686 inhabitants per square mile (2,195/km ). There were 2,096,121 housing units at an average density of 2,216 per square mile (856/km ). The racial makeup of

13500-507: The county, Cook County became the first county in American history where a candidate received one million votes. The Cook County Democratic Party represents Democratic voters in 50 wards in the city of Chicago and 30 suburban townships of Cook County. The organization has dominated County, city , and state politics since the 1930s. The last Republican mayor of Chicago was William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson , who left office in 1931 with

13650-445: The county. Mexicans are the most common Latino group. Cook County's 925,000 Mexican Americans make up 17.5% of its population. Roughly 127,000 Puerto Ricans live in the county, while over 12,200 Cubans reside in the county. There are some 140,000 Hispanics and Latinos of other nationalities living in Cook County (i.e. Colombian , Bolivian , etc.), and they collectively make up 2.6% of the county's population. In 2010 statistics,

13800-461: The earliest and youngest statesmen in Illinois history. He served as the second U.S. representative from Illinois and the state's first attorney general . In 1839, DuPage County was carved out of Cook County. The shape of Cook County and the neighboring counties has remained the same since DuPage County was formed. The population in each county and the split of agriculture compared to residential and industrial activity has changed dramatically over

13950-527: The effluent water, which holds a steady minimum temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit. 41°50′N 87°50′W  /  41.833°N 87.833°W  / 41.833; -87.833 Water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities , commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes . Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. These systems are what supply drinking water to populations around

14100-630: The emerald ash-borer devastation to create a compost ratio of 3:1 woodchips to biosolids. The compost is produced in windrows that are maintained at a temperature of at least 131 degrees for a minimum of 15 days and are turned five times during the period as required in USEPA protocol. The active composting period is followed by four months of curing after which the product is screened through a half-inch screen to remove large pieces of woodchips and tested. The MWRD produces 1.2 billion gallons of clean water each day. Draining freshwater resources from Lake Michigan

14250-483: The entire county's population. The part of the county outside of the Chicago and Evanston city limits is divided into 29 townships ; these often divide or share governmental services with local municipalities. Townships within Chicago were abolished in 1902 but are retained for real estate assessment purposes. Evanston Township was formerly coterminous with the City of Evanston but was abolished in 2014. County government

14400-432: The facility is harnessed by 2 turbines to provide a safe and environmentally friendly hydroelectric energy source that is sold back to Commonwealth Edison. Lockport generates over $ 1 million worth of electricity annually. Annual power generation (in kilowatt hours) and revenue amounts for the Lockport Powerhouse by year: *No recorded rainfall in 2012. The District's territory covers approximately 91% of land area and 98% of

14550-437: The following: In the United States , the typical single family home uses about 520 L (138 US gal) of water per day (2016 estimate) or 222 L (58.6 US gal) per capita per day. This includes several common residential end use purposes (in decreasing order) like toilet use, showers , tap (faucet) use, washing machine use, leaks , other (unidentified), baths , and dishwasher use. During

14700-457: The form of credits from commercial Banks, credits from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and regional development banks (in the case of developing countries), and bonds (in the case of some developed countries and some upper middle-income countries). Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs. According to estimates by

14850-478: The former U.S. president and Illinois resident. It is likely that Arlington Heights would have been the county seat. This northwest suburban region of Cook was at the time moderately conservative and has a population over 500,000. Local legislators, led by State Senator Dave Regnar, went so far as to propose it as official legislation in the Illinois House . The legislation died, however, before coming to

15000-586: The general election ballot, but the idea was not met with success. In arguing against the Lincoln County proposal, others noted several of the cities involved had power structures, law enforcement, or de facto "mayors for life" often accused in the press, or civilly or criminally charged with, political corruption , cronyism , and nepotism , and themselves being the main factor in their depressed economies rather than anyone in Cook County government. The opposition decried that their true reason for joining

15150-465: The globe. Aspects of service quality include continuity of supply, water quality and water pressure. The institutional responsibility for water supply is arranged differently in different countries and regions (urban versus rural). It usually includes issues surrounding policy and regulation, service provision and standardization . The cost of supplying water consists, to a very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to

15300-515: The ground (for indicators related to the efficiency of drinking water distribution see non-revenue water ). Once water is used, wastewater is typically discharged in a sewer system and treated in a sewage treatment plant before being discharged into a river, lake, or the sea or reused for landscaping or irrigation . A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes

15450-463: The intervening decades to 2020. The county began with 10,201 people in the census of 1840, growing rapidly to 5,150,233 people estimated for 2019 by the US census. Growth was rapid in the 19th century, with the County reaching 2.4 million people by 1910. In the 20th century, the County reached 5.1 million population. Cook County is nearly completely developed, with little agricultural land remaining near

15600-497: The iron main, so the kitchen tap flow will be fairly unrestricted. A rural consumer may have a kilometre of rusted and limed 22-mm iron pipe, so their kitchen tap flow will be small. For this reason, the UK domestic water system has traditionally (prior to 1989) employed a "cistern feed" system, where the incoming supply is connected to the kitchen sink and also a header/storage tank in the attic . Water can dribble into this tank through

15750-674: The largest religious group in Cook County was the Archdiocese of Chicago , with 1,947,223 Catholics worshipping at 371 parishes, followed by 209,195 non-denominational adherents with 486 congregations, an estimated 201,152 Muslims with 62 congregations, 68,865 NBC Baptists with 99 congregations, 49,925 ELCA Lutherans with 145 congregations, 49,909 SBC Baptists with 181 congregations, 45,979 LCMS Lutherans with 120 congregations, 39,866 UCC Christians with 101 congregations, 33,584 UMC Methodists with 121 congregations, and 32,646 AG Pentecostals with 64 congregations. Altogether, 59.6% of

15900-612: The legislative branch. In the United States the United States Environmental Protection Agency , whose administrator reports directly to the President, is responsible for water and sanitation policy and standard setting within the executive branch. In other countries responsibility for sector policy is entrusted to a Ministry of Environment (such as in Mexico and Colombia ), to a Ministry of Health (such as in Panama , Honduras and Uruguay ),

16050-584: The main losers from this institutional arrangement are the urban poor in these countries. Because they are not connected to the water supply network , they end up paying far more per liter of water than do more well-off households connected to the network who benefit from the implicit subsidies that they receive from loss-making utilities. The fact that we are still so far from achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation shows that public water authorities, in their current state, are not working well enough. Yet some are being very successful and are modelling

16200-523: The nation. Some border towns in particular had been outraged, as people can take their business across the county border (paying, for instance, 7% in Lake County instead of Palatine's 9.5%). The secession issue eventually died down from the nominal tax increase. In 2011, two downstate Republican state representatives, Bill Mitchell of the 87th district and Adam Brown of the 101st district, proposed statehood for Cook County. Mitchell said that Chicago

16350-415: The nation. Three hospitals are part of this system: John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County , Provident Hospital , and Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County , along with over 30 clinics. The Cook County Department of Transportation is responsible for the design and maintenance of roadways in the county. These thoroughfares are composed mostly of major and minor arterials, with a few local roads. Although

16500-463: The national government. This is, for example, the case in the countries of continental Europe, in China and India. Water supply service providers, which are often utilities , differ from each other in terms of their geographical coverage relative to administrative boundaries; their sectoral coverage; their ownership structure; and their governance arrangements. Many water utilities provide services in

16650-545: The option to cross-subsidize water services with revenues from electricity sales, if permitted by law. Water supply providers can be either public, private, mixed or cooperative. Most urban water supply services around the world are provided by public entities. As Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange (2002) stated, "The water crisis that is affecting so many people is mainly a crisis of governance—not of water scarcity ." The introduction of cost-reflective tariffs together with cross-subsidization between richer and poorer consumers

16800-421: The outer county boundaries. According to the 2000 Census there were 1,974,181 households, out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.0% were married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.7% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were someone living alone including 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The average household size

16950-428: The overall low level of water tariffs in developing countries even at higher levels of consumption, most consumption subsidies benefit the wealthier segments of society. Also, high industrial and commercial tariffs can provide an incentive for these users to supply water from other sources than the utility (own wells, water tankers) and thus actually erode the utility's revenue base. Water supply and sanitation require

17100-535: The population of 11 of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories . Cook County is at the center of the Chicago metropolitan area , which has a population of approximately 10 million people. Cook County was created on January 15, 1831, out of Putnam County by an act of the Illinois General Assembly . It was the 54th county established in Illinois and was named after Daniel Pope Cook , one of

17250-441: The population was 5,275,541. The county seat is Chicago , the most populous city in Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States. The county is at the center of the Chicago metropolitan area . Cook County was incorporated in 1831 and named for Daniel Pope Cook , an early Illinois statesman. It achieved its present boundaries in 1839. Within a century, the county recorded explosive population growth, going from

17400-452: The population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African-American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information. In 2014, Cook County had 2,001 religious organizations, second only to Los Angeles County out of all US counties. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 1,635 square miles (4,230 km ), of which 945 square miles (2,450 km )

17550-450: The population. African Americans made up 24.8% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.4% of Cook County's population. Asian Americans made up 6.2% of the population (1.8% Indian, 1.2% Filipino, 1.2% Chinese, 0.7% Korean, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.2% Japanese, 0.8% Other). Pacific Islander Americans made up less than 0.1% of the population. People from other races made up 10.6% of the population; people from two or more races made up 2.5% of

17700-541: The privatization of the water industry in 1989. In many developing countries, water regulatory agencies were created during the 1990s in parallel with efforts at increasing private sector participation. (for more details on regulatory agencies in Latin America, for example, please see Water and sanitation in Latin America and the regional association of water regulatory agencies ADERASA. ) Many countries do not have regulatory agencies for water. In these countries service providers are regulated directly by local government, or

17850-731: The public entity that is legally responsible for service provision delegates certain or all aspects of service provision to the private service provider for a period typically ranging from 4 to 30 years. The public entity continues to own the assets. These arrangements are common in France and in Spain . Only in few parts of the world water supply systems have been completely sold to the private sector ( privatization ), such as in England and Wales as well as in Chile . The largest private water companies in

18000-451: The public sector. They are owned by the state or local authorities, or also by collectives or cooperatives. They run without an aim for profit but are based on the ethos of providing a common good considered to be of public interest. In most middle and low-income countries, these publicly owned and managed water providers can be inefficient as a result of political interference, leading to over-staffing and low labor productivity. Ironically,

18150-594: The quality of surface waters. The 2017 average plant flow, effluent values, and permit compliance for each plant are presented below in Table 1. (MGD) Violations Compliance The MWRD treats an average 1.5 billion US gallons (5,700,000 m) of wastewater each day. It also shares responsibility with the Army Corps of Engineers for the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS), including

18300-489: The rate increased to 10.25 percent, the steepest nominal rate of any major metropolitan area in America. In Evanston , sales tax reached 10 percent and Oak Lawn residents pay 9.5 percent. On July 22, 2008, the Cook County board voted against Cook County Commissioner's proposal to repeal the tax increase. In 2016, Cook County joined Chicago in adopting a $ 13 hourly minimum wage. Cook County Board chairman John Daley called

18450-412: The relationship between the service provider, its owners, its customers and regulatory entities. They determine the financial autonomy of the service provider and thus its ability to maintain its assets, expand services, attract and retain qualified staff, and ultimately to provide high-quality services. Key aspects of governance arrangements are the extent to which the entity in charge of providing services

18600-646: The residents living in the proposed area voted in a landslide 70,958 to 242 in favor of its creation. As the District established a new Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS), new advancements in water treatment technology were made, leading to the creation of treatment plants and interceptor sewers that conveyed water from local collection systems to the plants for treatment. The MWRD constructed 560 miles of intercepting sewers and force mains ranging in size from 6 inches to 27 feet in diameter. The intercepting sewers are fed by approximately 10,000 local sewer system connections and are critical in managing stormwater and preserving

18750-594: The same for different categories of users and for different levels of consumption. In developing countries, the situation is often characterized by cross-subsidies with the intent to make water more affordable for residential low-volume users that are assumed to be poor. For example, industrial and commercial users are often charged higher tariffs than public or residential users. Also, metered users are often charged higher tariffs for higher levels of consumption (increasing-block tariffs). However, cross-subsidies between residential users do not always reach their objective. Given

18900-407: The secession effort was to start with a 'clean slate' with a new county government by design less willing to enforce responsibility against their abuses of power. Talk of secession from Cook County amongst some outlying communities again heated up in mid-2008 in response to a highly controversial 1% sales tax hike which has pushed the tax rates across the county communities up amongst the highest in

19050-450: The second largest racial group. Black Americans form over one-quarter (25.4%) of Cook County's population. Blacks of non-Hispanic origin form 25.2% of the population; black Hispanics make up the remaining 0.2% of the populace. There are roughly 1,341,000 African Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin living in Cook County; 1,328,000 are non-Hispanic blacks. Roughly 52,500 people were of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, making up 1.0% of

19200-565: The setting of tariff rules and the approval of tariff increases; setting, monitoring and enforcing norms for quality of service and environmental protection; benchmarking the performance of service providers; and reforms in the structure of institutions responsible for service provision. The distinction between policy functions and regulatory functions is not always clear-cut. In some countries they are both entrusted to Ministries, but in others regulatory functions are entrusted to agencies that are separate from Ministries. Dozens of countries around

19350-465: The south suburbs are often shunned by the city (although Chicago is not bound or required to do anything for other municipalities) and he blamed the Chicago-centric policies of Cook County for failing to jumpstart the somewhat-depressed south suburban local economy. Pending sufficient interest from local communities, Peloquin planned a petition drive to place a question regarding the secession on

19500-471: The southern area of the county. Working in tandem, the combination maximize water quality while minimizing flooding. The third and final piece of TARP is the McCook Reservoir. Stage 1 of McCook Reservoir was completed on Dec. 31, 2017, and adds 3.5 billion gallons of storage capacity. Stage 2 of McCook Reservoir will add 6.5 billion gallons of storage capacity when it comes online in 2029. In 2004,

19650-449: The state's Lake Michigan shoreline with Lake County . Including its lake area, Cook County has a total area of 1,635 square miles (4,234.6 km ), the largest county in Illinois, of which 945 square miles (2,447.5 km ) is land and 690 square miles (1,787.1 km ) (42.16%) is water. Land-use in Cook County is mostly urban and densely populated. Within Cook County, the state of Illinois took advantage of its Lake Michigan access and

19800-493: The tendency is increasing. Water meters are read by one of several methods: Most cities are increasingly installing automatic meter reading (AMR) systems to prevent fraud, to lower ever-increasing labor and liability costs and to improve customer service and satisfaction. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "access to safe drinking-water is essential to health, a basic human right and

19950-472: The total population. Approximately 10,300 residents of Cook County are of Native American ancestry. They consist of Cherokee , Chippewa , Navajo , and Sioux . Native Americans of Hispanic origin represent a sizeable portion of the Native American population. Nearly 6,000 Native Americans are of non-Hispanic origin, and some 4,300 are of Hispanic origin. Over 40% of the Native American racial group

20100-410: The two. It is also important to consider is the flexibility of the water supply system. Metering of water supply is usually motivated by one or several of four objectives. First, it provides an incentive to conserve water which protects water resources (environmental objective). Second, it can postpone costly system expansion and saves energy and chemical costs (economic objective). Third, it allows

20250-448: The valuation of Cook County, Illinois ; and, unlike other sanitary districts, the district has the power to operate facilities outside its boundaries. It serves an area of 883 square miles (2,290 km) which covers the City of Chicago and 128 suburban municipalities . The District’s 560 miles (900 km) of intercepting sewer mains are linked to approximately 10,000 local connections. The MWRD employs nearly 2,000 people. In 1919,

20400-533: The virtues of the system were made starkly apparent after the investigations of the physician John Snow during the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak demonstrated the role of the water supply in spreading the cholera epidemic. Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California . More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 2020,

20550-400: The wage hike "the moral and right thing to do." In June 2017, however, nearly 75 home rule municipalities passed measures opting themselves out of the increase. The county has more Democratic Party members than any other Illinois county and it is one of the most Democratic counties in the United States. Since 1932, the majority of its voters have only supported a Republican candidate in

20700-510: The water treatment process that supplies organic matter and improves soil structure and porosity to allow plants to more effectively utilize nutrients. Under the Illinois Environmental Protection Act, signed into law in 2015, biosolids were formally recognized as a safe, beneficial and renewable resource that should be used locally. Rather than being hauled miles to distant farms and landfills as in years past,

20850-405: The water treatment process. Algae naturally uptakes phosphorus and nitrogen from water to support its growth through photosynthesis, utilizing the sun as its energy source. This same approach can be applied to wastewater treatment as a means to remove phosphorus from the waste stream without the use of inorganic chemicals or additional energy, which is the current means of nutrient removal. The MWRD

21000-556: The waterways. From 1955 through 1988, the District was called The Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago. In order to provide a more accurate perception of the District’s current functions and responsibilities, the name was changed effective, January 1, 1989, to Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Act . Archives of

21150-400: The world are Suez and Veolia Environnement from France; Aguas de Barcelona from Spain; and Thames Water from the UK, all of which are engaged internationally (see links to website of these companies below). In recent years, a number of cities have reverted to the public sector in a process called " remunicipalization ". 90% of urban water supply and sanitation services are currently in

21300-423: The world have established regulatory agencies for infrastructure services, including often water supply and sanitation, in order to better protect consumers and to improve efficiency. Regulatory agencies can be entrusted with a variety of responsibilities, including in particular the approval of tariff increases and the management of sector information systems, including benchmarking systems. Sometimes they also have

21450-504: The world population lives, water services are often not provided by utilities, but by community-based organizations which usually cover one or sometimes several villages. Some water utilities provide only water supply services, while sewerage is under the responsibility of a different entity. This is for example the case in Tunisia . However, in most cases water utilities also provide sewer and sewage treatment services. In some cities or countries utilities also distribute electricity. In

21600-603: Was Charles H. Percy in 1978 . To establish more localized government control and policies which reflect the often different values and needs of large suburban sections of the sprawling county, secession movements have been made over the years which called for certain townships or municipalities to form their own independent counties. In the late 1970s, a movement started which proposed a separation of six northwest suburban townships, Cook County's panhandle ( Barrington , Hanover , Palatine , Wheeling , Schaumburg , and Elk Grove ) from Cook to form Lincoln County, in honor of

21750-432: Was $ 299,571, an increase of 11.7% from the prior year. According to Census Bureau estimates, the county's population grew by 5.3% from 1990 to 2000, decreased by 3.4% between the 2000 census and the 2010 census, and increased 1.6% between 2010 and 2020. As of the 2010 Census , the population of the county was 5,194,675, White Americans made up 55.4% of Cook County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 43.9% of

21900-413: Was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.38. In the county, the population age distribution was: 26.0% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.5 males. The median income for a household in

22050-419: Was completed in 2006 and consists of 109.4 miles of deep, large diameter tunnels that have a total storage capacity of 2.3 billion gallons; the tunnels have provided millions of dollars in flood protection benefits. TARP’s large tunnels and reservoirs are designed to reduce the amount of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and hold the polluted water until it can be fully treated at MWRD water reclamation plants. Since

22200-501: Was in service for the 2016 recreational season. Since its inception, the MWRD has worked to improve the environment and protect public health, but the way it views its work has evolved since 1889. Sewage is no longer a waste product but instead a collection of resources to be recovered and reused. The MWRD is implementing several innovations in renewable energy, while also recovering and developing reuse opportunities for algae, biosolids, water, phosphorus and other nutrients collected during

22350-485: Was in the 18th century that a rapidly growing population fueled a boom in the establishment of private water supply networks in London . London water supply infrastructure developed over many centuries from early mediaeval conduits, through major 19th-century treatment works built in response to cholera threats, to modern, large-scale reservoirs. The first screw-down water tap was patented in 1845 by Guest and Chrimes,

22500-472: Was ready for operation in 1922, which also was the year the first treatment plant of the Sanitary District of Chicago was completed. The Cal-Sag Channel reversed the flow of the Calumet Rivers. Although the District’s first assignment in reversing the flow of the river and constructing a vast network of waterways was clear, establishing itself was the first hurdle. There was a sense of urgency creating

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