BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

IN THE MATTER OF:

)

)

WATER QUALITY STANDARDS AND

)

EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS FOR THE

)

R08-9

CHICAGO AREA WATERWAY SYSTEM

)

(Rulemaking – Water)

AND THE LOWER DES PLAINES RIVER:

)

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO 35 ILL.

)

Adm. Code Parts 301, 302, 303, and 304

)

NOTICE OF FILING

To:

John Therriault, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

James R. Thompson Center

100 West Randolph St., Suite 11-500

Chicago, IL 60601

Marie Tipsord, Hearing Officer

Illinois Pollution Control Board

James R. Thompson Center

100 West Randolph St, Suite 11-500

Chicago, Il 60601

Deborah J. Williams, Assistant Counsel

Stefanie N. Diers, Assistant Counsel

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

1021 North Grand Avenue East

P.O. Box 19276

Springfield, IL 62794-9276

Persons included on the attached

SERVICE LIST

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that I have today filed with the Office of the Clerk of the

Pollution Control Board

PRE-FILED TESTIMONY OF MARGARET FRISBEE

on behalf

of Environmental Groups, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense

Council, Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club – Illinois Chapter, Friends of the Chicago River,

and Openlands, a copy of which is herewith served upon you.

Respectfully Submitted,

Albert Ettinger

Senior Staff Attorney

Environmental Law & Policy Center

35 E. Wacker Dr. Suite 1300

Chicago, Il 60601

DATED: August 4, 2008

(312) 795-3707

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---

BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

IN THE MATTER OF:

)

)

WATER QUALITY STANDARDS AND

)

EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS FOR THE

)

R08-09

CHICAGO AREA WATERWAY SYSTEM

)

(Rulemaking – Water)

AND THE LOWER DES PLAINES RIVER:

)

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO 35 ILL.

)

ADM. CODE PARTS 301, 302, 303, AND 304.

)

Testimony of Margaret Frisbie

August 4, 2008

I. Introduction

My name is Margaret Frisbie and I am the executive director of Friends of the Chicago River

(“Friends”), a nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to foster the vitality of the

Chicago River for the plant, animal, and human communities that live within its watershed.

Friends was founded in 1979 and our work spans the entire Chicago River system and

surrounding watershed. The only organization dedicated solely to the river’s improvement,

Friends works in partnership with municipalities, businesses, community groups, schools, other

nonprofits, government agencies and individuals on projects that will benefit the river. Friends

has 2,000 members and 4,000 volunteers who work with us on an annual basis to improve the

Chicago River.

Friends supports the Illinois EPA’s recommendations for improved water quality standards for

the Chicago River system and is convinced these standards are long overdue. In fact, we believe

that the Illinois EPA’s efforts present a once in a generation opportunity to bring the river’s

water quality standards up to date. To decide against these recommendations now might result in

another more than 30 year delay before they are reviewed again. Common sense, current and

planned investments, and increasing river use demand that we make the proposed changes now.

Since Friends was founded 29 years ago, the Chicago River has improved dramatically. Where it

used to be considered a community detriment and the Chicago River, Calumet and connected

canals used to receive massive amounts of sewage, today 85% of the combined sewer overflows

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---

have been captured by TARP and communities as diverse as Chicago, Skokie, and Blue Island

are investing in their riverfronts. Where there used to just a few fish species and wildlife was

scarce, the river is now home to nearly 70 species of fish, 60 species of birds and a growing

diversity of animals including beavers, muskrats, mink, and river otters. Where fences and walls

of buckthorn used to prevent easy access, new canoe and kayak launches, river-edge parks and

plazas, river-edge homes, and miles and miles of river trail now allow people down to the water

and the landowners such as the Chicago Park District and homeowner associations are

encouraging use.

Right now it is time to take the next step and improve the river system for the people and wildlife

that share this valuable resource.

As a small nonprofit organization, Friends does not have the resources to develop regional

reports. Yet with decades of experience and interaction with users, planners, and developers, we

can provide specific and first-hand information about river use, major river planning efforts,

access, input from people with whom we have had contact and who actively support the vision of

a river system which is safe for people of ages to use and that provides healthy habitat for

wildlife of all kinds.

II. Documented People on the River with Friends

Over the years, Friends has worked to educate people about the Chicago River and our goal to

make it the natural, recreation and economic asset it deserves to be. These efforts have resulted

in Friends taking thousands of people of all ages to the river in canoes and kayaks, on boats,

walking or through a variety of special events intended to serve as an introduction to this

incredible yet under-utilized natural resource. Through Chicago River Day, easily 20,000

volunteers have climbed riverbanks to clear them of trash and restore native landscapes or build

river-edge trails. In addition, Friends has supported the establishment of river-edge canoe and

kayak liveries that now rent boats to people from facilities in parks in Chicago and Skokie along

the North Branch of the Chicago River.

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---

In 1998, Friends founded our Urban Canoe Adventures Program, a volunteer-based program

with roughly 25 guides who are trained annually in on-the-water safety and rescue and paddling.

Over the past 11 years, these guides have taken at least 2,640 people canoeing on the North

Shore Channel, North Branch of the Chicago River, Main Stem, South Branch, down Bubble

Creek and along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and showed them the river and the wildlife

that lives in it. Typically each trip lasts five hours and is open to anyone over age six. In addition

to the guests, our volunteers spend hours on the water servicing those who wish to see the river,

rescuing those who fall in, and getting wet and dirty carrying and cleaning the canoes after they

come out of the Chicago River. Guests on Friends’ trips have spent $80,000 on ticket fees since

the program was founded.

In 2000, with the establishment of a permanent and public canoe launch at Clark Park at 3400

North Rockwell on the North Branch in Chicago, Friends founded the Chicago River Flatwater

Classic. This canoe and kayak race, supported by US Coast Guard and the Chicago Marine

Police, gives people a safe opportunity to paddle through downtown and interact with the river.

Open to anyone over the age of six and of any skill level, the event is seven and a quarter miles

long and takes the average paddler around two and half hours to complete. The Finish Line is in

Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown.

Since the event was founded, not counting our upcoming race on October 5, 2008, over 4,600

people ages six to 92 from 186 towns in Illinois and 18 other states have spent over $413,000

supporting and paddling the Classic. This figure includes fees from sponsors such as ACE INA,

Bell, Boyd, & Lloyd LLC, The Boeing Company, The John Buck Company, Burke, Warren,

MacKay & Serritella, P.C., Christy Webber Landscapes, CNA , Earth Tech, Ernst & Young

LLP, General Iron Industries, Harris Bank, Marsh USA Inc., MWH, Ozinga Chicago,

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Robert T. Friedman Family Foundation, Ryan Companies, Schulze and

Burch Biscuit Co., Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, The Trump Organization, and U.S.

Equities Realty, Inc. Each of these sponsors, along with BP and the Chicago Park District, has

fielded teams who raced in the Flatwater, many of them for multiple years in a row. In addition,

The Boeing Company twice used the Flatwater Classic as the basis for management team

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---

building, with more than 100 employees racing each year and the whole headquarters staff with

their families, celebrating their participation at the Finish Line in Ping Tom Memorial Park.

Through our communications with them, these companies and our paddlers know they are

investing in Friends and our efforts to improve the river.

In addition to Friends’ own paddling initiatives, in 2004 the Chicago Park District hired Friends

to take people canoeing through their summer programs utilizing their own boat launches at

river-edge parks. From 2004 through 2007, Friends led 34 trips with nearly 1,000 attendees. This

year, Friends is contracted with the Park District and expects another 324 people to participate

through 12 trips. Park District programs have included Ecology of the River (all ages), JETs

(teens), Learn to Paddle (all ages), Nature Oasis (all ages), Urban Campers (ages 9-12). The

Chicago Park District has paid Friends of the Chicago River over $70,000 to provide this service

in addition to their own expenditures to promote and administer the program showcasing the

Chicago River.

III. Chicago River Planning

Friends’ early leaders saw the value of clean water and a continuous Chicago River trail. Yet, it

was not only us who saw the potential and planned for a future that entwined river development

with urban growth and economic success. As early as 1979 Chicago Central Area Committee

“Chicago River Promenade” plan called for “attractive recreational space” which was

accompanied by a news release with a list of desired uses and a quote from then-chair, Robert B.

Johnson CEO of IC Industries, who said, “The Chicago River can become one of Chicago’s most

desirable amenities.” Before them in 1966, the City of Chicago stated their interest in the river’s

future in the “Comprehensive Plan,” which included proposals for river-edge parks. And

predating them all was Daniel Burnham, who included the Chicago River in his 1909 plan,

calling it “another great opportunity” that should have “pleasures for people” and allow Chicago

to develop on a grand scale like Paris or London.

Numerous plans since Burnham’s have called for the Chicago River to be improved as a major

civic amenity and include bird watching, bike paths, boat parades, boat docks, business districts,

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---

canoe and kayak launches, fishing, floating food markets, habitat, hotels, housing, parks,

pedestrian access, plazas, recreation, restaurants, underbridge connections, and water trails as

uses. Among the more prominent are:

1909 Commercial Club of Chicago, The Plan of Chicago

1966 City of Chicago, Comprehensive Plan

1973 Chicago 21

1974 City of Chicago, River Edge Plan

1979 Chicago Central Area Committee, Chicago River Promenade

1983 Chicago Central Area Committee, Central Area Plan

1986 Chicago Central Area Committee, Chicago: Growing into the Future

1989 City of Chicago, River Corridor Development Plan

1992 Chicago Central Area Committee, Chicago Riverwalk Project (circa 1992)

1998 U.S Fish & Wildlife Service, Nature and the River

1998 USDA Forest Service, People and the River

1999 City of Chicago, Chicago River Corridor Design Guidelines and Standards

1999 City of Chicago, Chicago River Corridor Development Plan

2002 Chicago Central Area Committee, The Chicago Central Area Plan

2002 Chicago Park District, Master Plan: Connecting People to the River

2002 Chicago Wilderness, From Stockyards to Spawning Beds (circa 2002)

2005 City of Chicago, Mayor Daley’s Chicago River Agenda

2007 Openlands, Illinois Paddling Council and Northeastern Illinois Planning Council

(now CMAP), Northeastern Illinois Water Trails

2008 City of Chicago, Chicago Riverwalk Development Committee (in progress)

2008 Blue Island, Robbins, Alsip, Calumet Park, and Riverdale, a river-focused

economic development proposal for a seven-community corridor along the Cal-

Sag/Calumet River (in progress)

Among all the plans, perhaps the most visionary and comprehensive are the recent efforts by the

City of Chicago, and especially Mayor Daley’s “Chicago River Agenda.” The city’s leadership

was summarized well by Chicago Dept. of Environment Commissioner Suzanne Malec-

McKenna, who wrote “we are committed to continued improvement of the river system for water

quality, wildlife habitat and recreation” in her March 17, 2008, letter to the Board.

The “Chicago River Agenda” itself, released in summer 2005, is very specific about river

improvement. It calls for improving water quality and encourages effluent disinfection. It calls

for protection of nature and wildlife, pushing for in-stream habitat improvements, eliminating

invasive species, and riverbank restoration. The agenda also outlines balanced river uses and

celebrates increased public access citing four (now five) non-motorized boat launches

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---

established by the city and the Chicago Park District. The final section of the agenda discusses

the river as the center of community life. Its introduction says “the City is committed to

developing projects and programs that bring people to the river and enhance community life in

the neighborhoods next to the river.”

That message, regardless of the author, is a common thread throughout all these plans and

confirms that the Chicago River system is considered vital to our communities, is an essential

development opportunity, and that the people who live in and lead our communities desire it as a

recreational, natural and economic asset.

IV. Increased Access

While formal planning through civic leadership and corporate engagement has resulted in

numerous plans, it has also resulted in tangible developments and millions of dollars spent, not

counting the over $3 billion spent by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater

Chicago on the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan. Of the uses listed in the plans above, every one of

them with the exception of the floating food market (being researched at present by the Chicago

Dept. of Planning and Development), is happening on the river system already.

•

Thousands of new residences along the North Branch, Main Stem, South Branch, Bubbly

Creek and Cal-Sag have been built in the last 10 years

•

New parks and boats launches in towns as diverse as Skokie and Summit or Chicago and

Blue Island are open and getting used by crew teams, canoe and kayak liveries, and the

general public.

•

Restaurants are flourishing on the North Branch, Main Stem, South Branch, Cal-Sag and

the Calumet.

•

River trails cover miles, with ordinances that call for more

•

And state-sanctioned water trails connect them all.

V. What People Have to Say about the Chicago River and CAWS

By and large the general public has expressed support for the Illinois EPA since they filed their

recommendations for water quality improvement in October 2007.

Since January 2008, nearly 100 letters filed by individuals, families, user groups, nonprofits,

local, state and federal elected officials, who represent hundreds of thousands of people, have

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---

called for effluent disinfection and protections for fish. On June 16, 2008, more than 100 people

attended the public hearing held by the Illinois Pollution Control Board and 43 of them spoke in

support of the measures. On July 9, the editorial board of the

Chicago Sun-Times

wrote in

support of the changes and stated that they “agreed with the state EPA, Friends of the Chicago

River, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and other public officials and environmentalists

who don’t believe we can settle for good enough when it comes to cleaning our waterways.”

To find out what our members and friends thought, on May 9, 2008, Friends sent an online

survey via email to 1,857 people. With a 3.3 percent overall response rate, 73.3 percent said they

believed that their health was at risk when they recreated on the river, 14 percent said that they

thought they “got sick” from using the Chicago River, and 90 percent said if the water quality of

the Chicago River was dramatically cleaner, they would seek out additional recreational

opportunities.

VI. Conclusion

In conclusion, Friends of the Chicago River believes that is it imperative that the proposed

improvements to the CAWS water quality standards be approved and implemented. Already the

Chicago River and its sister waterways afford a regional advantage to the people, plants, and

animals that live in and along them. The complex system of rivers and canals provides thousands

of acres of habitat for a diverse wildlife population that ranges from state-endangered black-

crowned night herons to beavers to bass. It provides recreational opportunities such as paddling,

fishing, birding, biking, boating, hiking, or crew to thousands of individuals, families, school

teams, and river-edge communities who must share our limited public open space. And finally,

these rivers and streams provide a commercial boost to the region through canoe and kayak

rentals, shipping, tourism, and investment in a new waterfront economy.

I personally have seen toddlers wading in the river at Clark Park. My co-worker, John Quail, has

seen children swimming for soccer balls at River Park on more than one occasion. A Friends’

board member, author David Solzman, has photographed children swimming on the Chicago

Sanitary and Ship Canal. And last week, the

Chicago Tribune

ran a story by a reporter who

paddle downtown from North Avenue and ate lunch with his hands from his kayak (see

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---

attachment A). These stories are not from the future. They are things that are happening right

now. And as Chicago, the Chicago Park District, Blue Island, Skokie and others continue to look

to the river for economic and cultural opportunities; these activities are only going to increase.

Right now is the time to take the next step toward clean and healthy waters. If these new

standards are not approved, we run the risk of squandering the hundreds of millions of dollars tax

payers and private enterprise has already invested in the continued improvements of these

waterways. We turn our backs on a community advantage that has potential for incredible

growth. We fight against the vision of the river as a community centerpiece that has been in

development for decades. And we make a formal declaration that says we don’t care about the

health of the people and fish and otters and mussels that already use and need the river system.

We must act and we must act now.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully Submitted,

Margaret Frisbie

Executive Director

Friends of the Chicago River

28 E. Jackson St., Suite 1800

Chicago IL 60604

DATED: August 4, 2008

Electronic Filing - Received, Clerk's Office, August 4, 2008

---