A rather unexpected bonus at ATEC11 are the variety presentations, from the highly technical to practical real world application. Dr. Edward Price presented a video about the Chicago stormwater retention system, run by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. This program and collection of public works handles water pollution and sewer backup problems for 52 municipalities within Cook County. Price covered how Chicago is setting up a water management system that can handle 11″ of rain in one day (from the so-called 100-year storm; there have been several such 100-year storms in the past 10 years!). The system treats about 1.5 billion gallons of waster water each day. Overflow is often stored in several reservoirs, including one called Deep Tunnel. Treated solid waste from the system is used to convert old strip mine craters into beautiful prairie land via a program called the Prairie Plan. See the image below for a basic schematic of the water treatment system.
