Ford Calumet Environmental Center at Big Marsh Park

An on-site, nature-based system captures, treats, and discharges all wastewater generated by the Ford Calumet Environmental Center at Big Marsh Park

Located in the South Side of Chicago, on a former industrial site along the Calumet River, Big Marsh Park is a 280-acre haven for off-road biking, hiking, and enjoying restored marsh habitat. It is home to the Ford Calumet Environmental Center. Designed to serve South Side communities and celebrate its environmental, cultural, and recreational assets, the Center also supports environmental education and local ecology in the way that it handles its wastewater.

Given the Center’s mission and its location within a restored marsh ecosystem far from the sanitary sewer system, the City chose to create a decentralized, onsite wastewater treatment system that incorporated the natural water-cleansing power of wetlands. Working with the Parks Department and a design team lead by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates, Biohabitats engineered a nature-based system to safely capture, treat, and discharge all wastewater generated by the Center on site. Effluent is first settled in a septic tank to remove solids and capture trash. A trickling filter pretreats the water and helps remove nitrogen. An equalization tank buffers flows from park events before water is pumped into subsurface flow constructed wetlands for polishing. Planted with native wetland species, the highly visible constructed wetlands employ microbes in the plant roots and gravel treatment media to naturally break down nutrients. After polishing, treated water flows into an elevated sand mound, where it is safely dispersed back into the groundwater.

Although decentralized wastewater treatment and disposal systems featuring constructed wetlands are a rarity in the City of Chicago, this system received regulatory approvals from Cook County and the Illinois Department of Public Health. It is designed to treat up to 4,000 gallons of wastewater per day.

TAGS

• Design
• Resilient Water Systems