A $427-million redesign and modernization of the world’s largest wastewater treatment plant is about a year away from converting the facility to larger primary settling tanks and a cleaner aerated grit facility. Those steps will also make it the greenest sewage and stormwater treatment plant in the area.
Sprawling across 413 acres in Cicero, Ill., just southwest of Chicago, the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant processes around 700 million gallons of storm and wastewater per day on average, but has the capacity to treat 1.2 billion gallons.