Opening the Wilmette locks
Sunday, September 14, 2008, at 5:18 pm by Joerg Metzner
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District officials opened the Wilmette locks on the North Shore Channel this weekend for the first time in over a year.
Opening the locks helps drain excess water from sewer systems in Evanston and other nearby communities during heavy storms -- like the one that dropped more than seven inches of rainfall on the city Saturday.
Printer-friendly version
water
The MWRD estimates that a billion gallons of water travel under the Wilmette lock each hour it is fully open. 90 billion gallons of water were let into the lake from all of the locks being opened. The river was so flooded that several sluice gates were opened in the city to relieve the pressure.
More than water is going into the lake
It is my understanding when they do this - sewage ends up going into the lake. Anyone else know more about this?
True
Hi Junad,
The Sun-Times had a brief item about this ... in which an MWRDGC spokesperson claimed 99 percent of the outflow was storm water, and 1 percent was untreated sewage.
Better than in your basement, eh?
Bill
Bill - I don't have a basement!
Bill - actually they had little chose - but even 1% is alot of sewage. Given that million of gallons are flowing into the deep tunnel.