Storms, Sewage, And Maggots: Climate Change Comes To Chicago b4in.org/p6S4 Add sewage in homes and maggot infestations to the list of what climate change can bring to American life. A big report in the Washington Post on Wednesday laid out how Chicago’s aging infrastructure is intersecting with climate change’s tendency to drive heavier bursts of precipitation in some parts of the country, with some exceedingly unpleasant results. As in other older cities like Boston, the design of Chicago’s waste water system is 120 years old, and as a result handles both storm water and sewage. The city’s system was constructed for a much smaller population, on the assumption the biggest storms would hit once each decade. So when more than one inch of rain hits in a single day, the system overflows into the Chicago River — and when 1.5 inches or more hits, the system backs up into basements and homes across the city. Lori Burns, a resident of Chicago’s South Side, told the Post that her home had flooded four times between 1995 and 2006, with the inundations recently increasing to every other year. In April 2013, her home was one of roughly 600 Chicago buildings that was flooded by sewage. It ruined her rugs, clothes, and family heirlooms, and forced Burns and her brother to go through the house with bleach. A week later, Burns entered her basement only to find a horde of maggots had occupied it thanks to the sewage bringing eggs up the drain. “It was like a scene from Amityville horror,” Burns told friends. “I couldn’t see past the staircase!” According to the Post, rains of 1.5 inches or more in Chicago have noticeably increased in recent years, and projections say rains of 2.5 inches or higher should ramp up another 50 percent in the next two decades. The National Climate Assessment paints a similar picture: annual precipitation in the Midwest has already gone up 37 percent since 1958, and is anticipated to go up another 10 to 20 percent by 2100. “Designs are based upon historical patterns of precipitation and stream flow,” the assessment says, “which are no longer appropriate guides.” Nor does the impact end with residences and buildings; the overflows from increased precipitation are also bringing more sewage and fertilizer and other runoff into the Great Lakes. As a result, the west side of Lake Eerie is now often overrun by algae blooms during the summer. More b4in.org/p6S4
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 07:26:53 +0000
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