Nov. 14, 2013 -- In 1889, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) was initially established to reverse the flow of the Chicago River away from Lake Michigan, given the river was routinely polluting the lake with untreated sewage and waste.
124 years later, those interested in the debate and proceedings of those early formative years, as well as all the years in between, can visit the MWRD website and read the minutes with the click of a button and the help of a new searchable database.
"We wanted to make the proceedings of the District more accessible and transparent to the public so we have made the records of District Board meetings going back to 1890 searchable online on our website," said Commissioner Kari Steele, chairman of the Information Technology committee. "For anyone who is interested in Chicago history or the history of how our infrastructure came to be, the proceedings are a fascinating read."
The searchable historical board meeting records can be found at http://mwrd.legistar.com under the Proceedings tab.
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