Chicago -- city in a swamp

One interesting fact gleaned from the U.S. Government is that Cook County is actually about 42% water (2,450 km sq land, 1,785 km sq water -- see the Census Bureau's U.S. Gazeteer Place and Zipcode Files page for the source of this information, under "Counties").

While most of this water is in Lake Michigan, the fact remains that the surrounding land area is pretty damp by nature. (See the Chicago Paddling/Fishing Pages for more information on the watery part.) The result of all this moisture has been outdoor plumbing on a truly massive scale.

Some other links to Chicago water-related topics:

• The Illinois EPA's Bureau of Water has specific information about the water quality of Illinois lakes and streams.
• The History of the Chicago Department of Water describes of the drinking water side of things.
• The Department of Water also offers a Water Plant Tour, with snaps of the Jardine and South plants, or see the department's home page.
• The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (formerly the Metropolitan Sanitary District) home page.
• The Chicago Public Library presents its version of reversing the Chicago River and other feats of civil engineering, such as straightening the Chicago River, on its Chicago history timeline.
• In addition to the timeline, the library also offers Deaths, Disturbances, Disasters and Disorders in Chicago, which has lots of good stuff, including a couple of water-related entries.

Unfortunately, we're now in the disillusionment phase of the world wide web, so links from the EPA and Army Corp of Engineers have disappeared since this page appeared back in 1997. The information available from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District appears to have been greatly reduced.

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