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BEACHNET==> Fw: 90 Billion Gallons released


----- Forwarded by Richard L Whitman/BRD/USGS/DOI on 09/18/2008 11:19 AM -----
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09/18/2008 10:52 AM

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Subject
90 Billion Gallons released





Suggest that we compile all Great Lakes State and Provincial stormwater release volumes from last weekends’ storm…
Doug
 
90 billion gallons of storm runoff let into Lake Michigan
Communities are monitoring drinking water closely, officials say
 
Engineers with their hands on regional flood gates had a choice last weekend: Allow widespread flooding in the Chicago area, or open the gates and risk contamination at Lake Michigan water intakes. As the rain kept falling, gates opened one by one, letting more than 90 billion gallons of storm runoff burble into the lake.

"When you open the locks, you know what happens to the lake," said Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. "That's the other concern we always have, the quality of water in the lake. But you had to do that."

On Monday, with the gates just beginning to close and officials saying the Deep Tunnel temporary reservoir system had barely begun to empty, communities that drink Lake Michigan water are scrutinizing it for bacteria, and some are adding chlorine just in case.

"We're maybe 2 miles from [the North Shore Channel gate]," said Ray Ames, water plant superintendent for Wilmette, where officials have added as much as 20 percent more chlorine to village water since flood gates opened Saturday morning. "If anyone was going to be affected by it, it was going to be us."
By Monday evening, there were no signs that storm water was carrying traces of sewage into Chicago intakes. And therefore, city officials said, no need for additional chemicals, a decision affecting Chicago and a host of suburbs.

"We haven't noticed any differences in water quality," Chicago Department of Water Management spokesman Tom LaPorte said, adding that "monitoring is continuous."

The weekend rain quickly overwhelmed the normal outfall, a channel at Lockport that by Sunday morning had already shunted 13 billion gallons of treated water toward the Mississippi River. And it soon maxed out Deep Tunnel's 2.5 billion capacity, said Jill Horist, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago spokeswoman.

"It was pretty intense," Horist said.

Water quality offshore hadn't dipped by Monday afternoon, but Greg Alimenti, water plant superintendent for St. Joseph, Mich., said water at its intake had quadrupled in cloudiness, and city authorities started dumping in chlorine.