Elected officials from the Federal Republic of Nigerian House of Assembly Delegation in conjunction with Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) Vice President Barbara McGowan and Nicole Harvey, Deputy Director for Congressman Danny K. Davis, Illinois 7th Congressional District, toured the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) in Cicero, IL on June 3 to learn more about how to properly develop a water treatment system at home in Africa.
The group spent their first week in the U.S. in Washington, DC, learning how the House of Representatives and Senate operate. They followed the week with a visit to Congressman Davis’ home state and county, followed by a visit with the MWRD, a special purpose government agency responsible for wastewater treatment and stormwater management in Cook County. They visited the world’s largest water reclamation plant, the Stickney WRP, to see how such a facility operates.
Vice President McGowan said that the most fascinating aspect of any tour at the Stickney WRP is the plant’s size.
“The average size treatment for water reclamation plants in Illinois is one million gallons in a day,” explained Vice President McGowan. “At the Stickney plant, we can do that in a minute. The smallest pump at Stickney WRP is 60 million gallons which is 60 times the size of the average plant in the state of Illinois.”
“This was a fascinating experience, and all of the participants asked brilliant questions,” said Harvey. “We appreciate the time taken by Vice President McGowan and the staff at Stickney to give this in-depth tour.”
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is located in West Africa. Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960 and is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. As of 2015, Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and the 20th largest economy in the world. Nigeria is worth more than $500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and purchasing power parity respectively.
