Governor Quinn pledged $10 million towards kickstarting the Chicago River cleanup effort this week, but don't expect to use this bridge as a diving board anytime soon. more ›

Environmentalists say Chicago's wastewater is a major factor in creating the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, and a group of organizations is pushing for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to impose stricter standards on all states from here to the Gulf. more ›

Don't plan any float trips or booze cruises for May 16-24. Vast sections of the Lake and Chicago River will be off limits for security reasons while international dignitaries are in town. more ›

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has quietly managed the region’s water treatment infrastructure since the agency reversed the Chicago River a century ago. But scandal and change have marked its recent history. more ›

As the Occupy movement continues, we could not help but notice a little protest going on in the Museum of Science and Industry---and we mean, very little, just an inch or two in height. more ›

Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago's Waterways is a historical narrative of the manipulation of the Chicago River and construction of the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS); its legal and environmental ramifications; and how to use the waterways as a catalyst for renewal. more ›

If the Chicago river smelled a little less offensive than usual this morning, it’s probably a coincidence. more ›

What wasn't talked about was any plan to, well, clean up the river, unless penicillin and antibiotics will be stocked among the concessions. more ›

What the heck is going on with the Chicago River? Rainstorms wreaked havoc on all manner of its operations, banks are crumbling and sending bystanders into the drink and there’s more Asian carp fun coming. more ›

The record rainfall has had some unintended consequences for tour boat and water taxi traffic along the Chicago River. more ›

Fear not, the Army Corps of Engineers thinks it will only take "a generation or two" for a permanent Asian carp solution to swing into action on Chicago's waterways. more ›

The sordid saga of the Chicago River took a new turn this week with a decision to stop dumping polluted water from treatment plants into the waterway. That water makes up 70% of the river...yuck. more ›

Now it appears the MWRD has changed its priorities and thinks perhaps clean water is important, after all. more ›

One day after the EPA made it clear that they won't abide a Chicago River rife with poo germs, regional water regulators emphatically said they were not ready to clean up. The icky water in question comes from treatment plants operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, whose Board President Terrence O’Brien came out swinging at a press conference on Friday. Despite a recent court ruling ordering improved water quality on stretches of the waterway and calls from just about everyone else (including the City, State, Feds and local environmental groups) for the District to end the practice of dumping “undisinfected effluent” into the River, O’Brien called cleaning up the Chicago River a waste of taxpayer money. That is quite a statement coming from someone who publicly claimed, "It's my job to clean up our water and keep pollution out of Lake Michigan..." more ›

The disgusting nature of the Chicago River is legendary -- after all, at one point the city had to reverse the thing so we could send all of our (literal) shit downstate instead of into Lake Michigan. The river hasn't been safe for man or beast since before the Cubs won their last World Series, and when we see people rolling their kayaks in the river we just want to throw down a big bottle of penicillin and wish them a painless demise. more ›

New documents have emerged that show the damage caused by a sewage pollution stream in the Chicago River that extends all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Did that information come from a brave whistleblower? Or a Wikileaks sleuthing of secret files? Nope. Turns out it comes from testimony by the authority itself and its allies aimed at proving that they had already trashed the River with pollution too thoroughly to make it worth saving. more ›

It seems like we are always looking for scapegoats. This week, in the wake of a decision in the Great Lakes States’ Asian carp court dustup, an unlikely figure has stepped up to take the blame for Lake Michigan's most-hyped invader: Robert Halpin, Chicago’s most infamous renter and Mayoral candidate. more ›

Chicago Rowing Union (CRU)—the Midwest’s only GLBT rowing organization and one of three such clubs in the world—introduces some 30 new people to the sport each year, according to founding member and board president Scott Curcio. “Many of those are from the LGBT community, and many have never participated in team sports before,” explains Curcio, 32, a real estate consultant. more ›

Just because the Mayor is on his way out, does not mean he is out of big ideas for the City. He let loose a doozy with the Trib yesterday. The Clout Street blog reports that Daley is interested in re-reversing the flow of the Chicago River back into Lake Michigan: more ›

Oh, Chicago River Alligator, do you have some cajones. Far more exciting than any Vince Vaughn siting in town, the most recent alligator to call the North Branch of the Chicago River home took a victory lap yesterday with residents and photographers looking on. And Fox News is reporting that their cameras caught it taking a dip again this morning even as Animal Control folks are setting traps for it. The three-to-four foot gator, the second seen within the last three weeks, was first spotted Sunday afternoon. more ›

It may be the "dog days" of summer around these parts but along the North Branch of the Chicago River, everyone is talking about gators. For the second time in a month, a gator was spotted hanging out along the river near Belmont Ave. This gator, apparently a juvenile and three-to-five feet in length, was seen on the bank of the river by a family boating the river. Sararose Krenger said of the gator, "He was chilling there, there were ducks floating by...he was eyeing the ducks and moved his tail a little bit and decided not to go for it. The ducks were swimming closer, so we didn't know if they were just messing with him." On August 6, a smaller gator, described as "just a baby," was caught near the same location as Sunday's sighting. Unlike that first gator, the subject of yesterday's sighting managed to sneak away before animal control could get a hold of it. They'll be back at the river setting gator traps today. We, for one, welcome our new alligator overlords. more ›

We knew the Chicago River was gross, but…really? According to the Chicago Tribune bacteria counts of water dumped into the Chicago River at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s North Side Treatment Plant are, on average, 521 times higher than those in Elgin on the Fox River!?! If our math is right, some spikes even contain 739 times the bacteria of comparable treated water put back into the suburban river. Perhaps more disturbing, depending on the time of year, the Chicago River is made up of 60-100% water dumped from the District’s treatment plants. Uh, nasty. more ›

Sometimes you, the readers, have burning questions. Send them. For example, an email from Phillip came into the Chicagoist public inquiry machine yesterday asking “if anyone thinks the Asian Carp were given free admission last night into Lake Michigan when the locks at the Wilmette Pumping station were opened to consider storm drainage.” Great question! more ›

Here's hoping you spent a lot of the weekend outside or at least doing something fun. In any case, here's some of the weekend coverage you may have missed. more ›

It seems that something has fundamentally changed in the collective view of the Chicago Waterways System recently. Not long ago, discussions of disinfection and separation from the Mississippi River system were dismissed as unrealistic or far-fetched, “the Chicago River is what it is…” A year ago, the idea of candidates for the U.S. Senate agreeing that they river should be cleaned up seemed inconceivable. more ›

It has been a rough week at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. The Trib revealed that the US EPA has joined the City and State in pushing for a significant clean-up of the Chicago River as part of an ongoing battle over the District's practice of dumping effluent into the waterway. And despite the Mayor's prickly "swim in the Potomac" response to the feds, the heat was turned up further on Thursday with strong anti-pollution editorials in both the Trib and the Sun-Times. more ›

Mayor Daley was in rare form on Wednesday responding to questions about a Trib story that revealed an April letter from the Obama Administration and the U.S. EPA pushing for the Chicago River to fulfill the Clean Water Act’s “fishable and swimmable” goal. Bristling at the federal guidance and unfunded mandates, Daley seemed to be channeling his inner Tea Partier when he blurted that the feds should, “Go swim in the Potomac,” and noted that, "We're trying to make this river every day cleanable, more cleanable." more ›

Speaking of anniversaries, last week marked our sixth anniversary blogging all there is to write to about this amazing city we call "home" (no matter where we originated from). We celebrated quietly in the Chicagoist office (if you call four kegs and a petting zoo "quiet") but plan on bringing the anniversary fun to you soon (so keep your eyes peeled). Thanks for making us part of your routine for the last six years and we look forward to tons more fun in the future. more ›

• The search continues for an Albany Park boy who fell into the Chicago River while playing yesterday.
• The New Trier student accused in a hit-and-run admitted to police she had been smoking marijuana the night before the accident.
• Jurors on the Rod Blagojevich case will remain anonymous until after the trial is over.

There might not be anything as un-sexy as water infrastructure. Which is probably why a year or two ago, you would probably have gotten blank stares if you had asked your neighbors about the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, a quasi-governmental agency responsible for dealing with the region’s water system. Despite its sizable budget, taxing powers, and massive impact throughout Chicagoland, MWRD has remained off of most people’s radar. But that has changed in a big way in 2010 as a series of high profile stories have shined a light in WWRD’s direction. more ›