A delegation of engineers from Australia paid a visit to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) as part of the agency's efforts to share its work beyond international borders and learn best management practices in improving the region's water quality, recovering renewable resources and addressing storm water.
The visit, facilitated by the international affairs committee for the Chicago chapter of the American Public Works Assn., brought together a group of veteran engineers from the state of Victoria, Australia, taking part in a six-city tour of the U.S. The engineers were chosen to attend as part of an Australian scholarship program.
The MWRD presentation to the Australian team covered MWRD's history, information on MWRD intercepting sewers and treatment plants; the Chicago Area Waterway System; industrial waste ordinances; the role of the MWRD as regulator and regulated entity and the transition from regulator of industries and their wastes to partnering with industries in byproduct resource recovery; and ongoing work on the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan or "Deep Tunnel," and current resource recovery and biogas projects.
"We welcome public works experts from across the globe to take a closer look at the work we are completing at the district. The Tunnel and Reservoir Plan is one of the largest civil engineering projects in the world and the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant is the largest water treatment facility. Sharing our knowledge can help transform water quality in other parts of the world and help us gain new perspectives from as far as Australia," said MWRD president Mariyana Spyropoulos. "But you don't have to travel that far to make a tour of one of our facilities. Residents from our own backyard in Cook County are encouraged to learn more about our work at the district, tour our facilities and see how it affects your daily lives."
The public works officials from Australia chose the MWRD out of 14 different area agencies because they said they were interested in learning how the MWRD works on a regional level with various governments while also addressing critical issues, such as sustainability, resource recovery, green infrastructure and asset management.
As part of their trip to Chicago, the delegation also visited the Chicago Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Metropolitan Planning Council and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They also toured the Trump International Hotel and Tower, because they were interested in its construction as the largest reinforced concrete building in North America and took a Wendella boat trip, rode Divvy bikes, visited Millennium Park and the Chicago Water Tower and ate Chicago deep dish pizza.
Source: Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
