Group lists Chicago River as one of the most endangered

North Branch of the Chicago River

The public-interest group American Rivers released its annual list of the ten most endangered rivers today, and for the first time the Chicago River, the north branch of which flows through Morton Grove, was one of the ten rivers named.

"A daily discharge of 1.2 billion gallons of undisinfected sewage effluent" flows into the river, but to my knowledge, all of that nasty stuff enters the waterway downstream from me. But storm sewer water does enter the river pretty much everywhere.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is pushing Illinois to make the river and its connected waterways clean enough to swim in. Such an endevour will cost billions of dollars.

Pictured on top is the North Branch of the Chicago River in Morton Grove a couple of days ago.

Technorati tags: Illinois photography photos Morton Grove nature Chicago River outdoors river environment

A Look at the Rivers of Illinois