Health & Fitness
Go Green Wilmette, League of Women Voters and the Wilmette Library Offered a Program about Water
Allyson Haut and Trish Nealon wrote about an event jointly sponsored by Go Green Wilmette and the League of Women Voters for the League of Women Voter’s Bulletin as follows. Valuable information is offered.
Liquid Assets: Learning About Water Infrastructure and Wilmette’s Systems Almost 40 people including State Senator Daniel Biss attended LWV Wilmette’s Liquid Assets program on September 24 at Wilmette Library. The program raised community awareness about management of national and local water systems infrastructure.
Our program’s format was a combined presentation of selected film clips from the documentary Liquid Assets followed by presentations from Wilmette’s Director of Engineering Brigitte Mayerhofer and Nabil Quafisheh, Superintendent of Wilmette’s Water Plant.
Penn State Public Broadcasting produced Liquid Assets as a public media and outreach initiative. The film outlines the public water supply’s crucial roles in maintaining public health, public safety, and the economy, using examples from communities of all sizes and locations throughout the country, each with its own challenges. The audience viewed specific segments highlighting the value of water, the evolution of provision of safe drinking water and removal of waste and stormwater; management and rehabilitation of aging systems, and a section highlighting 21st century solutions for maintaining our water infrastructure. A common theme emerged: we need to care for our water resources.
How is all this relevant to our own community? Following the film, Brigitte Mayerhofer provided the audience with important information about Wilmette’s sewer system. Ms. Mayerhofer:
- Explained the structure and function of Wilmette’s systems. The Village has a combined sewer and stormwater system east of Ridge Road and separate storm and sewer systems west of Ridge Road.
- Gave us a review of Wilmette’s stormwater management plan.
- Debunked myths about the locks and storm water in Wilmette.
- Shared news of past and proposed sewer infrastructure investments.
- Discussed some resources available to homeowners.
Ms.Mayerhofer noted that within our village issues vary by neighborhood based on specific geography and geology. The Village is planning community meetings for outreach and education purposes regarding stormwater.
Mr. Quafisheh showed an interactive DVD as he explained how water is obtained from Lake Michigan, treated, filtered, stored, and delivered to our homes as safe drinking water. He emphasized that the plant and all systems operate according to standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The process begins with lake water intakes that reach out approximately one mile from the plant into the Lake Michigan. Water flows to the plant by gravity, where is undergoes a multistep process before it is ready to become our drinking water. Our plant produces drinking water for both Wilmette and Glenview (70% of the water that Wilmette produces is for Glenview; many of us did not know that!).
Finally the speakers welcomed audience questions and addressed a variety of broad and specific issues.
Relevant Resources Interested in learning more? The film is available for check out at the Wilmette Public Library. Also, please see information on Liquid Assets film content, related resources, and video clips at www.liquidassets.psu.edu.
Questions? You can contact our speakers at: mayerhoferb@wilmette.com and quafishehN@wilmette.com.
