Two Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants were awarded
on Friday totaling $1 million earmarked towards Chicago green infrastructure
projects. The projects will improve water quality in Lake Michigan. The infrastructure
projects will prevent stormwater from carrying contamination into Lake
Michigan.
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Great
Lakes National Program Manager, Susan Hedman said. “Green infrastructure also
helps to prevent flooding, which is occurring more often as a result of the
increasingly frequent extreme precipitation events that have hit the Midwest in
recent years — a pattern that may intensify as the result of climate change.”
These
improvements will directly benefit residents, businesses and the environment. They
will enhance Chicago’s overall Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategy by
improving the water and sewer systems, reducing flooding, enhancing sustainability.
“Lake
Michigan is one of Chicago’s greatest assets, but it faces many challenges —
from contaminated sediment to industrial pollutants to invasive species,” Sen.
Dick Durbin said. “The Environmental Protection Agency has invested more than
$70 million to ensure the lake stays beautiful and clean for years to come, and
today’s announcement is the latest example of the federal government’s
commitment to the lake. These grants will help stop almost 5 million gallons of
untreated stormwater from running into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan,
great news for the millions of Chicagoans who rely on the lake for drinking
water or fishing.”
The
city will use one grant ($812,000) to install bioswales and permeable pavement
at Montrose Beach to filter over 4 million gallons of stormwater annually,
greatly reducing the amount of contamination that would flow into Lake
Michigan. The city will use the second grant ($188,000) to install green
infrastructure in a neighborhood that drains toward the lakefront. This project
will prevent almost 900,000 gallons of untreated stormwater from entering the
City’s combined sewer system annually and ease basement flooding in nearby
homes.
The
projects will reduce flooding risk, improve the ability to treat stormwater and
urban runoff at its source, and ensure the vital source of fresh water for millions
of Chicagoans and it surrounding community. Chicago is among 16 cities to
receive funding in the initial round of EPA’s new GLRI Shoreline Cities grant
program. These grants can be used to fund up to 50 percent of the cost of green
infrastructure projects on public property. Green infrastructure uses
vegetation, soil and natural processes to hold and filter stormwater and
melting snow preventing flooding and contamination from reaching surface water
and groundwater resources. The first round of projects includes rain gardens,
bioswales, green roofs, porous pavement, greenways, constructed wetlands,
stormwater tree trenches and other measures to improve water quality in the
Great Lakes basin.
Read
more at the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
Chicago skyline image via Shutterstock.