MWRD Opens Levee 37

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) of Greater Chicago, in working together with federal leaders, the USACE, various agencies, and northwest suburban communities surrounding the Des Plaines River, has carried forth its mission to prevent flooding by officially opening Levee 37.

Officials with the MWRD and USACE joined U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, along with state lawmakers, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), Cook County Forest Preserve District and local leaders from Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and Wheeling to open Levee 37 earlier this month.

Levee 37, also known as the Mount Prospect/Prospect Heights Levee, will protect more than 600 existing homes and dozens of businesses in Mount Prospect and Prospect Heights, Illinois, from future flooding, with an estimated annual savings of more than $3 million in avoided flood damage.

This scheme is one of six projects authorized as part of an Upper Des Plaines River endeavor to reduce flooding along roughly 80 miles of the Des Plaines River, which flows through 33 municipalities in Cook and Lake Counties. This project and its partner project, Levee 50, are a 65/35 federal/non-federal share.

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