Durbin, Duckworth, Quigley Press Army Corps To Approve Funding For McCook Reservoir
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL) pressed the Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) for strong and continued support for the construction of the McCook Reservoir Project in a letter to Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Douglas Lamont. An allocation of additional funding by the Corps is necessary to meet the December 31, 2017 deadline for completion of Stage 1 of the McCook Reservoir, which is required by the project’s consent decree between the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“We write to emphasize our strong and ongoing support for the continued construction of the McCook Reservoir Project. Given the project’s regional significance, we urge your approval of the Army Corps of Engineers’ recent recommendation to allocate additional funding for the McCook Reservoir project in order to meet a critical deadline for Stage 1 completion. With your assistance, this critically important public infrastructure investment will soon provide much needed flood protection to our region’s residents and businesses,” the members wrote in their letter to Acting Assistant Secretary Lamont.
The McCook Reservoir Project is a major flood damage reduction reservoir of the Chicagoland Underflow Plan (CUP) that will provide more than $114 million in flood damage reduction benefits to five million residents of Chicago and 36 surrounding suburban communities. The McCook Reservoir was authorized by Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 1988 and is currently 75 percent complete. When finished in 2029, the reservoir will hold ten billion gallons of water and protect 1.2 million homes and businesses in the region from flooding. It will also greatly improve the quality of area waterways by reducing untreated sewage backflow into Lake Michigan, which serves as Chicago’s drinking water supply, and storing combined sewer overflow during flooding events before the water can be directed through the Stickney Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Full text of the letter to Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Douglas Lamont, is available below:
March 1, 2017
Douglas W. Lamont
Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army
108 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310
Dear Acting Assistant Secretary Lamont:
We write to emphasize our strong and ongoing support for the continued construction of the McCook Reservoir Project, a major flood damage reduction reservoir of the Chicagoland Underflow Plan (CUP) that will provide more than $114 million in flood damage reduction benefits to 5 million residents of Chicago and 36 surrounding suburban communities. Given the project’s regional significance, we urge your approval of the Army Corps of Engineers’ (the Corps) recent recommendation to allocate additional funding for the McCook Reservoir project in order to meet a critical deadline for Stage 1 completion required by the Consent Decree with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The McCook Reservoir, authorized by Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 1988, is a flood risk management project that is currently 75 percent complete. When finished in 2029, the reservoir will hold 10 billion gallons of water and protect 1.2 million homes and businesses in the region from flooding. It will also greatly improve the quality of area waterways by reducing untreated sewage backflow into Lake Michigan, which serves as Chicago’s drinking water supply, and storing combined sewer overflow during flooding events before the water can be directed through the Stickney Wastewater Treatment Plant. Because of the significant benefits the reservoir will bring to the region, the Corps has consistently rated McCook as one of its top flood damage reduction projects in the country with an overall benefit/cost ratio of 3:1.
An allocation of additional funding by the Corps is necessary to meet the December 31, 2017 deadline for completion of Stage 1 of the McCook Reservoir required by the project’s consent decree for between the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD), DOJ, and EPA. That’s why the Corps recently recommended up to $11.3 million in additional funding for McCook prior to the approval of the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2017 Work Plan. In a December 2016 memo sent to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Major General Donald E. Jackson, Jr., Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Operations, urged the prompt distribution of funding for four projects across the nation that face time-sensitive requirements including the McCook Reservoir. The memo also recommended the inclusion of additional funding in the FY 2017 Work Plan for the construction of the McCook Reservoir.
Your prompt approval of the pending funding request for the McCook Reservoir is essential to ensuring that MWRD can meet its requirements under the consent decree and keep the project’s construction on schedule. We urge you to move quickly to allocate the additional funds for McCook. With your assistance, this critically important public infrastructure investment will soon provide much needed flood protection to our region’s residents and businesses.
Thank you for your continued support of this project and your consideration of our request.
Sincerely,