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Sewage a threat to Lake Michigan water

Since 2007, more than 21 billion gallons of sewage and dirty wastewater have been dumped into our beautiful Lake Michigan, polluting the water that the people, including me, cherish and treasure. As a result of the dumping, there have been hundreds of beach closings and countless reports of people becoming ill from drinking the water. The lake we can proudly call our own is becoming more of a hazard than a benefit.

The failure of our sewage system during the recent flooding has led me to believe that Deep Tunnel, our flood-control and sewage reservoir, is alarmingly problematic. The overflow of the Deep Tunnel has led to opening of the gates that are responsible for keeping the overflow from entering Lake Michigan. Because of the opening, large amount of waste and polluted water have entered the lake, putting a stain on our clean water.

This issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible because it is not only affecting the people around Lake Michigan, but also the people who depend on the lake as a source of water. One way to solve this problem is to create exposure to this problem, and this needs to be done to create the public support that we need to make a change.

Taehoon Song

Buffalo Grove

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