PEORIA -- The Illinois River, which winds across the state and serves as a drinking water source for millions, is the 11th most polluted river in the US, environmental groups said on Oct. 21.
In a riverfront news conference, representatives from three Illinois groups, Environment Illinois, the Illinois Sierra Club and the Environmental Law and Policy Center spoke about the river's problems, as Environment Illinois released a new report, Wasting our Waterways, Toxic Industrial Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act.
The Illinois River in 2007 absorbed 3.9 million pounds of pollutants from industrial sources, including 4,276 pounds of carcinogens. And those numbers don't include pollutants dumped into its tributaries. The figures are from the US Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory, and are self-reported from industry.
"Toxics from industry is a fraction of the total," said Albert Ettinger of the ELPC. Agricultural chemicals are not included in this deadly brew, and pharmaceutical chemicals are not even systematically measured, but they also can be found in the river.
Every sewage treatment plant has found "transsexual fish" near its outlet, Ettingersaid.
Max Muller of Environment Illinois said cancers in the US have risen along with the use of toxic chemicals.
So is water from the Illinois River safe to drink after treatment? Well, yes, they said, if it meets the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
But... the river still needs to be cleaned up by incentives encouraging industry to adopt safer chemicals, and by better enforcement of the Clean Water Act. That law was supposed to make US waters fishable and swimmable by the mid-1980s, but its promise has never been achieved.
Pending legislation in the US Congress, the Clean Water Restoration Act, is also necessary to meet clean water standards, they said. Cong. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, serves on the committee drafting that legislation, Muller said. "We hope he will listen to the public's call for clean water."
In addition, the Illinois EPA should develop standards for nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and adopt wetlands protections, he said.
-- Elaine Hopkins
Comments