How officials ensure Chicago River is clean enough to swim in

CHICAGO (WLS) -- On Sept. 20, hundreds of swimmers will fill the Chicago River to raise money for ALS research.

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago President Kari K. Steele shared their involvement in making sure the river is clean enough to swim in.

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"I understand the hesitation, but yes, the Chicago River is safe to swim in. One of our main priories is to ensure we maintain a clean water environment. We have an award-winning treatment process. We have the capacity to treat 1.3 billion gallons of water daily, and that's before it's released into the Chicago waterways," Steele said.

In addition, MWRD deploys two skimmer boats to pick up trash and floating debris from the Chicago River. Last year, the boats collected over 450 tons of debris from the river.

Another sign indicating the cleanliness of the Chicago River is the increase of aquatic life.

"In 1974, there were only 10 recorded species of fish in the Chicago River. Today, we have documentation that there are 77 species. That's a direct result of our treatment process," Steel said. "So we're doing our part to make sure the river's safe. The Chicago River has definitely come a long way, but water quality and of course public safety remain our ongoing priorities."

For more information, visit www.chicagoriverswim.org.

ABC7 Chicago will stream the swim live from 6:30 to 10 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 20.

Audiences can watch on ABC7Chicago.com, Disney+ under the Live tab by selecting ABC7 Chicago and ABC7's Connected TV apps on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku.