Meet the MWRD (Well, Water District Board Candidates, Anyway)
By JoshMogerman in News on Feb 25, 2012 10:00PM
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago has quietly managed the region’s water treatment infrastructure since the agency reversed the Chicago River a century ago. But in recent years scandal has dragged MWRD out of the shadows and candidates are lining up to help new leadership grapple with massive change at the billion dollar agency.
The District manages storm and wastewater systems for a 900+ square mile region. It's not exactly sexy work, but the battle over cleaning up the Chicago River, questions about their payrolls and a downright weird multimillion dollar fight over a downtown alley have plenty of people watching. With the director of the board overseeing the District stepping down and a new Executive Director already in place, significant change is clearly on the way. Add a full one-third of the other board positions going up for grabs in the next election, along with the recent decision to finally undertake a multi-million dollar project to end the practice of dumping undisinfected water into the Chicago River, and you have the makings for a pivotal moment in the history of the agency.
So who signs up for that gig? Find out for yourself as Green Drinks holds a forum with the candidates who will duke it out in the upcoming Democratic primary before taking on three Green party candidates in the Fall (no Republicans have filed to run yet, according to the Sun-Times). MWRD sends water bills to 10 million people, stands on the frontlines in the battle to rebuff Asian carp and manages a billion dollar budget, so be sure you choose wisely!