All the things that go down the drain and end up at the waste water treatment plant are not removed there. Some of the industrial byproducts that end up in sewers, the agricultural chemicals that runoff farmland, and pharmaceuticals that pass through our bodies all can end up in our streams and lakes. Water treatment
Chicago officials boast that the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant is one of the world’s largest sewer treatment plants, handling the waste of 2.3 million people. The Stickney Water Reclamation is the biggest single source of phosphorus in the entire region that drains into the Mississippi River. Combined with other sewage plant releases a state task
Each fall, elementary school students gather along the Milwaukee River to release fingerling lake sturgeon—an act that symbolizes just how far the river has come. Once written off as polluted and lifeless, the Milwaukee River now supports more than 30 native fish species and has become a model of urban river recovery. Decades of environmental