Author: Sarah Ray, Sierra Club Illinois Volunteer
This August, in honor of National Water Quality Month, we’re exploring several water quality issues that persist in Illinois, and what elected officials on the local, state, and federal level can do to protect these valuable resources.
Chicago Deserves Better Than Chicagwa
The City of Chicago's recent ill fated rollout of Chicagwa, a marketing stunt touting canned water straight from our very own Lake Michigan, brought an ugly truth to the surface—the City of Chicago is dangerously behind in its goal to replace lead service lines. In April, WTTW reported that city crews had replaced just 74 of the approximately 400,000 service lines in need of replacing in Chicago. Chicago currently has the largest network of lead service lines in the country, and funding has been difficult to secure. Federal dollars from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act should help—in the bill, Illinois should get $288 million dedicated to lead pipe replacement. However, that will only cover 3% of the estimated $8.5 billion cost to replace lead service lines in Chicago.
Other cities have taken more drastic measures to ensure replacement of lead service lines remains a priority. Newark, New Jersey, a city less than a tenth of Chicago’s size, had nearly 23,000 lead lines replaced in less than three years. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) represented a group of Newark teachers that sued the city for replacement lines, and the extra pressure forced the city to find a more cost effective and efficient way to replace the lines. City and state officials in Illinois should learn from the example of cities like Newark, and consider creative approaches to more rapidly address the major health threat caused by lead service lines in Chicago.
Environmental Justice Along the Mississippi River
In Southern Illinois, Cahokia Heights recently made major strides in their fight to improve ongoing stormwater and sewage issues. This environmental justice community along the Mississippi River has been impacted by decades of flooding and environmental racism, exacerbated by inaction from the local and state government to mitigate the problem or investigate its root causes. Despite decades of reports from local residents of raw sewage and trash backing up in their yards due to improper infrastructure, local researchers still aren’t even sure of the specific cause.
Thanks to community involvement and public outcry from local citizens, recent action has sought to address these challenges. In early August, Governor JB Pritzker announced that Cahokia Heights will receive a $9.9 million grant from the state dedicated to improving the city’s sewer system. While it may take up to 3-5 years for the updates to be complete, residents can begin to see noticeable improvements in the next two months. This type of funding is critical, and environmental justice communities like Cahokia Heights should be prioritized for these types of grants. Illinois should explore opportunities to fund similar projects across the state to ensure equitable distribution of resources to those with the greatest need.
Protecting the Great Lakes, Fighting Climate Change
A recent report from the Environmental Law & Policy Center notes that Lake Michigan’s shoreline is vulnerable to flooding and water-related disasters. The report calls out a few specific sites of concern along the shoreline, but overall shares a stark warning that water levels are increasingly extreme and the threat of severe storms is more consistent as a result of climate change.
Action must be taken now to prepare for risks ahead. Many of the solutions recommended in the report can be enacted on a local level. Illinois must clean up vulnerable sites and transition to more “Green Infrastructure” like stormwater recycling and the restoration of wetlands. In addition, Illinois must continue to prioritize environmental justice when considering solutions to protect the Great Lakes and fight climate change. For example, the state can fight environmental racism through zoning reform to accurately evaluate the risk of new projects, ideally utilizing more recent data that reflects the current state of Lake Michigan water levels.
What can we do to protect our water?
These three examples of water quality issues across Illinois demonstrate how community participation and advocacy must be paired with action from policymakers to protect Illinois’ waterways.
On the individual level, volunteers and activists across the state can act as citizen scientists through the Sierra Club’s Water Sentinels program, which trains activists to test and assess their local waterways for pollution in order to call attention to issues and devise solutions when problems arise. Sign up to volunteer with the Water Sentinels program!
Individual action is important, but we also need elected officials up and down the ballot to be vigilant in their own right—to keep watch on and then act swiftly to protect our shared water. We need elected officials who will invest in water infrastructure, fight climate change, and protect our drinking water from pollution. You can work to ensure your Representatives are acting as Water Sentinels in your community!
- Know your local representatives’ stances on these important issues. Hold these leaders accountable for their decisions around water resources by contacting offices directly and telling them what you think they should prioritize.
- Stay informed and engaged: Support and follow local journalism and advocacy groups to understand water issues in your community. The Sierra Club Water Team meets every other Tuesday — find out more and sign up to volunteer here.
- Sierra Club members—stay tuned for an announcement from Sierra Club Illinois next month to learn which candidates have been endorsed in the November Election! Sierra Club endorses candidates who will act as environmental champions in their respective positions. Check our endorsements list to find out which candidates will protect waterways near you.