JUL.
a
Dear
Illinois
Pollution
Control
Board,
I
really
think
that
pollution
in
the
lake
and
river
or
any
water
body
is driving
sea
creatures
wild
with
all
of
this
junk
in
there.
You
see,
my
class,
teachers,
and
I recently
took
tests
for
the
river.
Most
of
our
test
results
were
basically
bad
results
under
3 or
4.The
main
teacher
of
the
trip
said
numbers
under
3
or 4
were
like
grades
C
or
a
D. The
nature
of
the
water
is
in
grave
danger,
so
please
do
something
about
or
else
your
name
will
not
make
any
sense.
For
crying
out
loud,
you
are
the
Illinois
Pollution
Control
Board
(l.P.C.B).
So
please
just
do
something
about
this
madness.
I could
not
imagine
living
in
a
world
where
water
everywhere
was
polluted,
because
going
to
begin
to
live
in
one.
You
see,
the
first
field
trip
that
we
went
on
this
year,
was
the
river
to
do some
testing
because
one
of
our
teachers
told
us
what
was
going
wrong.
After
our
first
field
trip,
the water
testing
results
were
below
3
which
meant
it
was
similar
to
a grade
C
or D.
Just
some
pollution
in
the water
can
cause
a
new
species
to
be
born
to come
out with
a
problem.
Since
you
are
a
pollution
control
board,
I
say
you
should
at
least
make
a
net
that
is
capable
of holding
enough
oxygen
underneath
but
hold
all the
garbage
on
top.
All
I
am
trying
to
say
here
is
that
you
people
are
professionals
and
you
should
know
what
you
are
doing
with
these
rivers.
I want
to
grow
up
with
memories
of the
rivers
near
my
area,
but
clean
rivers.
On the
news,
reporters
have,
well,
been
reporting
that
pollution
under
the
water
is
a little
more
serious
than
pollution
up in
our
atmosphere.
1
So,
my
opinion
on
pollution
is
that
we should
come
up
with
a
new
era of
technology
that
is
efficient
and
healthy
for
the
economy.
At
the
same
time,
we need
to improve
the
environment
for
the
species
here
on
our
Earth.
As
the
future
comes
closer
and
closer
to
our
lives,
we
need
an
answer,
a
solution
to pollution.
Sincerely,
A student
caring
for
Earth,
Enrique
Escalante
2
Dear IL State Pollution Control Board,
sr
Hi I’m Megan and my school (Waters) did a
ttu
the water in the Chicago River! Let’s just say if the
river
was a student in a school it would get and
D---! I know
that’s
a
very poor score and
we
need to
improve
it! I
think
that we need to help save the Chicago
River before it’s too
late and my class
and ecology teacher Mr. Leki agrees!
Imagine nice clean rivers were there are blue
herons,
good fish, and night time animals like
raccoons,
possums, andfoxes! Because all I see when I go are
ducks
and
geese! But
we
can’t fix it on our own and we can’t fix
it completely! The problem
I
think is too much to
handle
for any one but if we can make I difference in any
way, I
would have to ask you the fallowing
questions!
Ifyou would be so grateful to in some way help
us to
save the Chicago
River
like maybe
sending some kind of
volunteer
help
for when we
go to
the Chicago river
or
send some
letters
of advice to us so we can help
the
river!
That would be
greatly appreciated! But I also have some
questions of concern of the river.
I wanted to know what you are doing to help
our
river. Ifyou are even doing anything,
I wanted to know in
detail
what? I hope you will
get
back to me because
it is
also
your responsibility to help us and the
river! Why
does the
river look so dirty? Because last time I checked
you
were the pollution
control
board! So why is it
the
river
like that? Please tell me
and
write me what are you
doing because my class and my school test the
water.
Help the river and the Chicago environment! You
are.part
to
the Pollution Control Board. Please help.
Sincerely,
Megan Turner
Dear
Illinois
State
Pollution
Control Board,
rd
I
am
12
years
old
and
a
student
at
Thomas
J.
Waters
Elementary
school.
Lately,
we
have
been
visiting
the
Chicago
River
and
doing
tests
to
see
how
our
river
is
doing.
During
our
trips
we
write
about
the
river
what
we
see,
and
what
we
smell.
After
we
finish
writing
we
sit
in
a circle
by
the
river
and
we
do
the
tests.
Once we
finish
with
the
test
we
go
and
look
for
life
in
rocks
with
our
environment
teacher
Mr.
Leki.
We
leave
and
then
wait
days
to
see
the
results.
Today,
our
teacher
Mr.
Leki
told
us
the
results
in
all
the
tests
that
we
did
the
river
got
a
grade
of
C+.
In
the
bug
tests
the
river
got
a
grade
of
D.
As
you
can
tell
these
results
are
very
bad,
because
of
this
all
of
the
life
in
the
river
is
dying
out.
Soon,
all
the
animal
life
from
the
river
will
be
extinct.
Then,
the
river
will
be
forbidden
from
entering
and
people
won’t
be
able
to
do
the
things
they
like
to
do
most.
For
example,
people won’t
be
able
to
go
fishing,
or
sit
and
enjoy
the
peaceful
quietness
of
the
river.
No
animals
would
be
allowed
to
roam
the
roads
and
they
wouldn’t
be
able
to
play
with
children
on
the
field.
Another
huge
problem
that
causes
pollution
in
the
river
is
chemicals
from
dishwasher
soap.
Dishwasher
soap
is
used
to
wash
dishes
then
it
is
accidentally
dumped
into
the
river,
which
harms
plant
life
and
animal
life.
Even
though
it’s
against
the
law
people
still
“accidentally”
dump
it
in,
the
soap attacks
the
oxygen
and
soon
there
is
little
or
no
oxygen
left.
This
causes
animals
to
die
and
soon
we
won’t
be
able
to
feed
ducks, look
at
ducklings,
and
we
won’t
be
able
to
enjoy
the
sounds
that
they
make.
PLEASE
HELP
US!!!!
Sincerely,
Annette
Aragon
Dear Illinois Pollution Control Board,
)
/
OIILitIo,
C
1
49JNoIs
You may not know me, I am Antonio Gamez. My class room 303 frorif
8
°ard
Thomas
j
Waters
recently
visited
the Chicago River, to
make
some
important
tests
with the water. Our results didn’t change much from our last
trip, but still the results are pretty bad. Is there anything you can do to
fix
this enormous
problem? Is there
any way you could help to
clean our river?
Native species and
plants
are being killed off painfully
every
day, due to
the
fact
that the
river is immensely contaminated. I
do
realize that cleaning the
river
would take
a
great amount
of efforts, but
that is precisely what we
need
;
strong leaders.
You don’t even
have
to think about the Environment
if
you
don’t
want
to,
you
don’t even have to think
about
the
river itself if
you
don’t wish to do so.
Think about the community around you, children and adults alike.
Day
by
day
they are
victims
of
this
horrible act. For goodness sake,
we practically
get our
drinking water from here! Is it even healthy
to
pollute the river and
environment
this
way?
I’m
really not
sure,
but I am sure
of one thing: it is
not too late to
fix our river. And it is
up to us to do
the job, for NO ONE will
do the job
for
us.
Let’s not think what
the
earth
can do
for us, let’s think
about
what
W
can do for the earth. And I
am sure you
agree with this as
well, we can give the earth something much better that this don’t you think?
I mean, think
for
a second, do you realize that it is our own
home we’re
talking about
here? Wouldn’t
you
love to keep it clean? We
can
start a
change by helping the river; we should start
by
helping ourselves.
Sincerely,
Antonio Gamez
Dear Illinois State Pollution Center
Board,
STPJ
OF
LUtOL.
ollU.’Ofl
Control
BorO
Hello I
am
Aliah of
Thomas J. Waters Elementary School. Here at
Waters we
take
pride
in our
Chicago
River. We have gone on multiple trips
to the
Chicago
River.
While we visited the river
we
studied
aqua
life in the
water
and taken several tests on the river water.
Some
of the
tests
include
the Dissolved Oxygen test and other
tests
like
the tests
for Phosphates and
Nitrates. While doing these tests and some others we discovered
that
there
was
human waste in the waters like
hair and trash. This shows that the water
is being cleansed but not cleansed
enough. This means we are not doing
something
because if every other state can keep their water clean than
so
can
we. If we
have
to add another process to the water cleaning system then so
be it. Never in my
lifetime
have I seen a state were they had to separate the
river
from other water sources
with series of humongous gates because it
was so
filthy. It is shameful
and embarrassing I’m sure we can do better. All
we
need
is
a
couple
of great thinkers, some money and brainstorm.
I
already
have one idea we could use. I noticed that people like
to
hang around the
Chicago River Park. It’s a nice
place
to go fishing and play soccer. I also
noticed there weren’t any garbage
cans around the park area making the
river
a
convenient place to
dump. Well I have a solution and it revolves
around some trash bins. All we have
to do is buy maybe five trash cans
for
the
park. One by the play ground,
two by the field and three along the
path
of the
river (not to close to the water©).
Then there is a more
convenient
place to dump and it’s not in the river. Right know your probably thinking
just because we set down some garbage cans
does not
mean people will still
put garbage in the bins. So I have another plan,
we make a
fine for anyone
who
litters from 100-300
$
it doesn’t matter
you
decide
just as
long
as
it
shies people away from the idea of littering. I also think that we should add
another
step
to the water cleansing
process
because who ever is cleaning it
needs to clean it more. Every time I visit the Chicago River I
always
want
to
swim in it or dip my feet in it,
but
I
can’t because I’m told
it
is to dirty
and
filled with chemicals. We as a community have
made a mess of the
Chicago
River and we as a community will fix
it
instead of trying to ignore it.
Sincerely,
Aliah
Max Michaels
S
‘
Waters school
JUL
ii
4540 n. Campbell
Chicago,
IL 60625
OI!Utfr
0c
0
h1’40’S
5/28/09
OIBord
Dear Illinois Pollution Control Board
I,
Max Michaels am
sad to say the tests we ran on our
great
Chicago
River have all been low. If the river was a student in school they would be
stuck in summer school big time. I think you should add in sponges to
cleanse
our water
next
to our ways of cleaning the water I hope we can find
a way to
clean our water
that
dose not harm our planet.
There
is always
adding in more facilities that will clean the
water
in
safe ways. Maybe
start
a research fund for researching ways to clean
our
water
with out harming it.
The water treatment plants that could be
built
could
also be used to make energy while
is moving through. It could
open
a
whole
new world for making energy for
homes. The plants could be
environment friendly with
solar
panels
and wind turbines and the third
from
of energy
water. The excess power
could be stored and donated to
people
how
can barely pay their energy bills.
We don’t need just
one
of these
plants
we need
at least 5 of them and
they
can’t pollute at all no waste coming
out
of the plants.
No garbage at all just recycling nothing else but clean energy and
fresh water and we can’t just mix it back in with the dirty water we need to
block of the water coming in with the water coming out so we don’t mix the
water and get the same results that we had before that’s the big mistake we
are
doing right
now.
When
we dump the treated water back into the river
that
we are treating it mixes and then becomes dirty water once
more.
We
need
to fix what we have done. It’s our fault we are
living
in
a
dieing planet
we
need to save it before its gone forever. Please
take my
letter in
consideration.
Deep
deep consideration.
Sincerely,
Max Michaels