Department:
People We Serve:
Programs & Initiatives:
Share
Print
RSSKeeping the Chicago River Clean
When it comes to keeping the Chicago River clean, Chicago is literally rolling on the river. We have two boats dedicated to keeping the river clean and its banks free of graffiti.
In June of 2008, Streets & Sanitation unveiled our new River Clean-Up Boat which filters river debris and decontaminates the water it travels in by injecting oxygen into the river.
While we refer to this boat as DSS Two, it is known to manufacturer Water Management Technologies as their Debris Collecting Boat with Oxygenation.
This boat not only pulls debris out of the river but it also cleans the water that it is operating in by injecting 150,000 liters of oxygen into the water every hour. By directing this steady flow of oxygen into the river we are effectively decontaminating between 10,000 and 20,000 gallons of water per minute which helps to make a difference in the health and cleanliness of our river.
The other boat in our fleet of two is known as DSS One and is used to remove graffiti along the banks of the Chicago River. It has a large compressor mounted on deck and long sections of retractable hoses on board that allow crewmen to dismount from the boat and walk several yards inland to pressure paint away unsightly graffiti vandalism.
DSS One previously served as a Chicago Police Marine Unit and is also sometimes used as a surface cleaning boat to augment the efforts of the higher tech DSS Two.
Department Main Office
Streets & Sanitation
