Oct. 29--Build a metropolis atop a once-swampy lowland and you wind up not only with questions of water quality, but also of commerce and drainage. Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District deal with these issues and a host of environmental concerns, from clean drinking water and flooded basements to sewage treatment and Deep Tunnel reservoirs.
The current board has shown growing sensitivity to conservation and land use issues. One of the best proposals to emerge from our Plan of Chicago project is a suggestion from MWRD board member Debra Shore: It's a shrewd economic development plan to create an industrial park around the district's Calumet treatment plant at 130th Street and Torrence Avenue; water-intensive industries would be able to buy treated (but not pure) wastewater cheaper than potable water.
Three seats are up on the nine-member board. Our endorsements:
Frank Avila, a Democrat completing his second six-year term, is the board's only trained engineer. He has pushed the district toward greater environmental consciousness. He had advocated for educating the public not only about the effects of pesticides and herbicides on Chicago waterways but also about toxic chemicals in personal care products, cosmetics and leftover pharmaceuticals that many homeowners thoughtlessly flush down their toilets. Bonus: In 2012, Avila was one of only three commissioners to oppose giving MWRD workers time off with pay to celebrate every precinct captain's most hallowed feast: Election Day.
When torrential rains flood Chicago's suburbs, TV news crews tend to head north and northwest even though south suburbs often suffer extraordinary damage. That area hasn't had an MWRD commissioner since 2006 -- which means it's voiceless when commissioners discuss the incomplete Deep Tunnel drainage and retention project. To help raise that voice, the Tribune endorses Timothy "Tim" Bradford, the Rich Township administrator and a promising newcomer whose forceful personality would help energize the MWRD. Bradford, a Democrat, promises to vote "in lock step" with the board's most environmentally attuned members. Beyond his environmental sensibilities, he has a deep background in private-sector businesses. A government that spends well over $1 billion a year can use his expertise in budgeting and marketing.
You might expect as much from a resident of Palos Heights, located amid a dense concentration of publicly owned woodlands: Herb Schumann developed a strong record on Forest Preserve District issues when, from 1990 to 2002, he served on the Cook County Board and the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission. Schumann, a Republican, represented areas of Wheeling and Maine townships that often flooded; like Bradford, he would bring a suburban urgency on stormwater issues to a board that has only one member who doesn't live in Chicago. Schumann's background is in finance and public administration; he spent seven years as the chief financial officer of the county highway department. Schumann also has clever proposals for joining the MWRD and the forest preserves in land and water management projects.
