Monument of the Millennium

[Text on the right]

The ASCE presented only ten such awards worldwide, each representing the most outstanding example of Civil engineering in a particular area of infrastructure over the past century.

Created in 1889, the District built canals that reversed the flow of the Chicago River away from Lake Michigan, protecting the public drinking water supply and eliminating waterborne diseases prevalent at the time. The District later built wastewater treatment plants to collect and treat all the wastewater in the area.

The District has continued with new technology and foresight in construction of the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), for the capture of combined sewer overflows that would otherwise discharge to the inland waterways and the Sidestream Elevated Pool Aeration (SEPA) stations to add more oxygen to the waterways. With these and other innovations, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago proudly continues its commitment to protect Lake Michigan and the inland waterways.

[Plaque on the left]

Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium

American Society of Civil Engineers - 1852

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s

Wastewater System

One of the finest examples of how civil engineering ingenuity shaped the development of society’s quality of life in the 20th century

Designated: September 19, 2001

[List of Commissioners on front of the monument]

Commissioners

Terrence J. O’Brien, President

Kathleen Therese Meany, Vice President

Gloria Alitto Majewski, Chairman of Finance