Editor’s Essay

Thinking About Water...
and Changes

I’ve been thinking lately about water — what it means to us, where it flows, how to keep more fresh water where it falls. A few years ago, my partner and I wanted to rip up our rather large asphalt driveway and replace it with gravel — for aesthetic reasons, but also because that would allow more rainwater to infiltrate the ground and replenish the underground aquifer. Village officials, however, said we could only use asphalt, concrete, or paving brick for our driveway — all impervious surfaces that don’t allow water to seep through.

Using a mathematical formula called the runoff coefficient, we determined that if the village allowed us to convert our driveway to gravel, it would save between 9,000 and 10,000 gallons of water a year. Today this fresh water flows into the street where it collects salt and oil and other contaminants, runs into the storm sewer, and gets mixed with sewage and pollutants. We then pay to treat it, and the effluent gets dumped into local waterways where it eventually becomes part of the “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, a huge area devoid of aquatic life.

Let’s face it: this is not a sustainable way to live. Inspired municipal leadership would provide incentives for individuals and developers to use permeable surfaces, for instance, instead of placing impediments in their path. The Center for Neighborhood Technology has developed a nifty green infrastructure calculator on the Web that people and organizations can use to determine the difference in environmental costs between using conventional systems to manage stormwater and employing “green” interventions.

Now, 10,000 gallons a year may seem a mere drop in the bucket, but the city of Chicago is putting a green roof on part of McCormick Place that will filter the first flush of rainwater and return 50 million gallons a year to Lake Michigan — 50 million gallons that previously would go into the storm sewers.

A drop here, a bucket there, and pretty soon it begins to add up.

This issue includes the second of a series of special reports on topics of concern to this region, Jerry Dennis’ look at water supply. We, and the rest of nature, have only two ways to get the water we need to sustain us — from Lake Michigan (and other rivers and streams) or from groundwater. What is happening to those sources of water is a call to arms.

Taking Leave

In early November a swift nine years ago, the first issue of Chicago WILDERNESS arrived in the world. A small group of people, enlisted by Stephen Packard, had debated the best ways to share the work of the new organizational collaboration called Chicago Wilderness and, at the same time, foster a sense of pride in the rare nature of the Chicago region. We launched a magazine! And I, a writer, fell into the editor’s chair—a seat I have happily occupied ever since. Now it is time for me to take my leave.

On November 7, I was elected to public office. By the time you receive this magazine, I will have been sworn in as a commissioner at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. Don Parker, who has served ably as managing editor of this magazine for four years, will now take the helm. I expect you’ll see my byline now and then. I am, after all, a writer. And please know that I will continue my passionate advocacy for conservation here in Chicago Wilderness. It has become my life’s work.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve, here at the magazine and now in a new role. I am grateful beyond words.