Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District

Though reducing our environmental impact has been a goal throughout the many plant improvements and expansions throughout the years, the District has made significant efforts towards becoming an environmentally sustainable organization in the last decade. With the plant upgrades involved in the Phase 1B Improvements, the District hopes to become energy neutral by 2030. The following slideshow illustrates just a few of the steps the District has taken to reduce our carbon footprint (press the arrow buttons at each side of the slideshow to change slides).

In the Summer of 2017, the KWRD Board of Trustees voiced interest in pollinator conservation. This entailed converting a portion of the District's owned property from mowed lawn to native wildflower prairie. In response, the District began converting around 4.5 acres of turf grass into pollinator habitat in the Fall of 2017. Now in their third growing season, these pollinator habitat sites have been successfully established and are requiring only minimal maintenance. The District plans to incorporate more native habitat into the landscaping plan for the expanded treatment plant.

The three aforementioned native pollinator habitats have now been successfully established and will continue to serve as a resource for pollinators and wildlife, as well as to provide aesthetic benefits to DeKalb residents. In light of the success of these three sites, and the positive responses from the KWRD Board of Trustees and the public, the District has plans to restore more native habitats across the Treatment Plant property. As the construction for the Phase 1B Plant Improvements comes to a close, many open areas of the KWRD treatment plant have been seeded with native prairie mixes instead of turf grass.

Moving forward, the management required to maintain these prairie sites will continue to reduce significantly.

In 2019, the DeKalb Park District informed KWRD of their desire to convert open areas of Park District property to native habitats. Further discussion between the two organizations led to the determination that a cooperative partnership could allow for the economical implementation of these projects by drawing on the strengths and experiences of the two groups. KWRD applied for a ComEd/Openlands Green Region grant to assist in executing the project, which the two entities were approved for and awarded in July 2020.

The "KWRD and DeKalb Park District 2020 Native Habitats" project’s goal is to restore 22 acres of turf grass and naturalized landscapes to native pollinator habitat. Sections of Hopkins Park, Rotary Park, and the KWRD water reclamation facility will be converted to native habitat in an effort to provide environments for important pollinators (butterflies and bees) and reduce landscape maintenance costs. The project also seeks to provide public educational opportunities on the importance of pollinator conservation and stormwater management.