Greetings, green viewers to today’s episode of Planet Earth: Our Loving
Home featuring an interview with Commissioner Frank Avila of the Board
of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of
Greater Chicago, USA about water quality, conservation, and
protection.Commissioner Avila, a vegan, worked as a professional
engineer and land surveyor for 40 years. Then in 2002 he was elected to
the Board and for the past eight years has strived to provide safe water
for the five-million residents of Cook County, Illinois, USA.
Commissioner
Avila also produces and hosts the TV program, “Commissioner Frank Avila
Speaks,” which examines such important issues of our day as
environmental protection, public health, and organic farming.
The
overall responsibility is: One, we treat waste water. Two, we protect
our water supply. What’s our water supply? Lake Michigan. We have to
ensure that no one is polluting Lake Michigan. We manage flooding.
We
have control over storm water management here in Cook County. These are
the functions that we do.
HOST: As part of its mission, the
Board also focuses on water conservation. In the USA, average
residential outdoor water use, such as watering lawns and plants,
accounts for nearly 30% of total residential water usage, with it being
nearly 60% in California, USA. Across the world rainwater harvesting is
gaining popularity as a way to address water shortages that nearly all
nations are facing due to climate change.
Harvesting can also
prevent municipal drainage systems from flooding and protect streams and
rivers from runoff pollution.
For more details on Commissioner
Avila,
please visit
www.mwrd.org