The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent proposal to narrow federal protections for wetlands and small waterways arrives at a moment when communities across Illinois are facing more frequent storms, heavier rainfall and costlier flooding.
These are not abstract challenges, as they affect homeowners, schools, businesses and neighborhoods throughout Cook County. That is why it is so important to understand what wetlands actually do and why losing them puts our communities at greater risk. Wetlands are one of our most valuable tools for managing stormwater and addressing climate change.
In the Midwest, wetlands are a vital nature-based remedy for water management, serving as enormous sponges by absorbing rainfall, slowing runoff and reducing pressure on sewer systems during intense storms. They filter pollutants before they reach the Chicago River or Lake Michigan, support wildlife habitat and help stabilize our shorelines. Wetlands help make our region more resilient, and they often do it more effectively and at a lower cost than engineered systems alone.
The story of Hurricane Katrina is a national lesson we cannot afford to forget. For decades, Louisiana’s coastal wetlands provided a protective buffer against storm surge. But after years of erosion, weakened safeguards and human activities, those wetlands disappeared rapidly, in some places, at the rate of a football field every hour.
When Katrina struck in 2005, much of that natural protection was gone. Without wetlands to absorb and slow the water, storm surge reached the levees with devastating force. Scientists later confirmed that miles of lost wetlands allowed floodwaters to travel farther inland.
Katrina showed the country what can happen when natural defenses fail. Wetlands aren’t “open land.” They are part of a city’s safety system.
Here in the Chicago region, intense rains and urban flooding already challenge families and strain local sewer systems. Wetlands and small tributaries help reduce these impacts by giving stormwater somewhere to go other than basements, streets and overburdened pipes.
At the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, we see every day how our large treatment facilities are assisted by the health of the natural systems that feed into them. Protecting wetlands makes our job, protecting public health and managing stormwater for over 5 million residents, more effective and sustainable.
The proposed federal changes would make it harder to protect many of the wetlands and small waterways that support regional resilience. Local agencies like the MWRD are investing in green infrastructure, wetland restoration and climate-ready systems.
But those efforts cannot replace the broad safeguards that federal protections provide. Wetlands are not just environmental features. They are essential to public safety, neighborhood stability and the long-term strength of our water infrastructure.
As we plan for the future, Chicago and Cook County must remember water does not follow political boundaries and neither do storms. Protecting wetlands is protecting our homes, waterways and regional economy.
When wetlands thrive, communities thrive. And when they disappear, we lose one of our most important natural defenses to storms. The decisions we make today will determine the resilience we pass on to the next generation.
Let’s choose wisely. Let’s choose protection. Let’s choose a future where natural and engineered systems work together to keep our region safe.
Kari K. Steele is president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.