TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF DECEMBER 18, 2008
COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Mr. Richard Lanyon, General Superintendent
Title
Report on Biosolids Use by the City of Chicago
Body
Dear Sir:
At the April 6, 2006 Board meeting, the Research and Development Department reported that the Chicago Department of Environment (CDOE) had completed an evaluation of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s (District’s) exceptional quality biosolids and endorsed the use of biosolids on land owned by the Chicago Park District (CPD) and other City of Chicago departments. The CPD collaborated with the District and the CDOE in this evaluation since it has over 6,000 acres of land on which biosolids can be used as an amendment to improve the quality of soil or as a fertilizer topdressing on its parks and athletic fields.
The first project on which the CPD planned to use significant amounts of biosolids was the restoration and development of a park at the former U.S. Steel (USX) site located on the City’s lakefront and 87th Street. This project which sprung from our earlier establishment of research and demonstration plots at the site, was completed in October 2008 and it utilized over 2,000 dry tons of the District’s biosolids that was blended with sediment dredged from Lake Peoria (imported to the site in 2006) for preparing the seedbed to establish the park.
In June 2008, the CPD informed the District that it is ready to begin using biosolids to topdress turf at parks across the City of Chicago. Prior to initiation of this program, the CPD requested that a biosolids information portfolio be developed for use by the CPD and City Ward Aldermen for educating the public when needed. The District and CPD are working to prepare the biosolids portfolio, and CPD will distribute it early in 2009. The District plans to work with the CPD during 2009 to begin using biosolids as a fertilizer topdressing at its parks and athletic fields.
In addition to using biosolids on parks and athletic fields, the CDOE and the District recognize that biosolids can be beneficially used at the City’s ecological restoration projects in the Lake Calumet region, under its Calumet Area Ecological Management Strategy (Calumet EMS). The largest project planned under the Calumet EMS that can benefit from the District’s biosolids is the establishment of a vegetative cap on an approximately 80-acre contaminated site known as the Lake Calumet Cluster Site (LCCS). Because the Calumet Region is viewed as environmentally sensitive, some of the stakeholders involved in the Calumet EMS, especially the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have raised concerns about the potential environmental impacts of emerging contaminants in biosolids.
In June 2008, the District collaborated with the CDOE to host a workshop on the potential impact of emerging contaminants in the environment to address some of the concerns of the Calumet EMS stakeholders. For this workshop, the District solicited the expertise of scientists from four universities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, consulting firms, and the District to share information on the state of the science on the potential for ecological impacts of emerging contaminants in the environment. About 80 individuals from Calumet EMS stakeholders, agencies, and the District attended the workshop. The information presented at the workshop inferred that due to the relatively low levels of emerging contaminants in biosolids, if biosolids are used for ecological restoration in the Calumet Region, there is minimal potential for impacts. Also, the workshop concluded that some demonstration and research in the Calumet Region would be needed to further demonstrate the safety of biosolids on the ecology of the region.
According to the CDOE staff, informal communication with the Calumet EMS stakeholders indicate that the information presented at the workshop helped to reduce their concerns significantly regarding the use of biosolids in the Calumet Region. Therefore, the CDOE intends to include the use of biosolids in the restoration of the LCCS. In 2009, the District and CDOE plans to begin collaboration on research on the LCCS to address the need to demonstrate the safety of biosolids on the ecology of the Calumet Region.
Respectfully Submitted, Louis Kollias, Director of Research and Development, LK:TCG:AC:kq