Jun
8
Rain won’t drain
Filed Under Green Initiatives
Several days this week I’ve been crossing the street, minding my own business, when suddenly I am confronted by a moat around the sidewalk–the very one to which I have had the ambition to ascend.
What’s going on? Is it monsoon season?
It’s reminiscent of a few days I spent in Mazatlán, Mexico, a beautiful tourist destination with beaches and margaritas surrounded by a dirt poor city. I stayed with a friend in a down-and-out part of the city, that was too poor to have paved roads. When the rains came–and they come like clockwork during the summer months, you can practically set your watch to them– all the streets were just rivers of mud. After dodging across the railroad tracks in our flip flops, our feet were sucked down into the mud so powerfully there was no question that nature was the dominant force. After the rains, even crossing the street became an adventure.
And now I’m seeing something similar in Chicago. After a good rain, the water remains standing in the street for hours. Our sewer system can’t handle it.
The Mayor knows this, of course, which is partly why he pushed for more permeable paved alleys. The pavement allows rain water to seep through it and get absorbed by the soil below. Less run-off into our sewers, which means we have more of a chance at filtering the water that we eventually dump into Lake Michigan. Yes, that means the water from our sinks, toilets, and sewers, all of it gets released into Lake Michigan, whether we’re able to filter it first or not. And yes, we get our drinking water from the same lake.
But apparently the permeable paved alleys aren’t proving enough. Or else why do I have to skirt each city corner until I find a spot I can make the leap up onto the sidewalk?