Commissioner Frank Avila Speaks MWRD: UNDERGROUND AND UNNOTICED

Commissioner Frank Avila hosts MWRD: UNDERGROUND AND UNNOTICED with guest Metropolitian Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD)
General Supertindent Richard Lanyon. As a child growing up in Chicago, Richard
Lanyon (BS 60, MS 61 in civil engineering from the university of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign) lived just
one house away from the north branch of
the Chicago River and frequently played
by its banks. The name of his school in
the city's Ravenswood neighborhood was
Waters Elementary. So it may be fitting
that Lanyon grew up to become a water
quality engineer who this summer took the
helm of the agency charged with protecting
the quality of the water supply for the
city of Chicago and 125 suburban Cook
County municipalities.
As General Superintendent of the
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
of Greater Chicago, Lanyon oversees
the activities of the agency's 2,100 employees
and an annual budget of $1 billion.
The organization's 117-year history
boasts such accomplishments as reversing
the flow of the Chicago River in 1900 and
being named a civil engineering wonder
of the world in 1955. The District's biggest
current undertaking, the ambitious
Tunnel and Reservoir Project (TARP), is one
of the country's largest public works projects
for pollution and flood control. Lanyon
has spent 43 years of his career at
the District, starting as an associate civil
engineer and holding positions in three
departments—Operations, Engineering,and Research and Development—before
being named General Superintendent this
June.

avilatvproducers@sbcglobal.net
Producers: Frank & Sherry Avila

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Commissioner Frank Avila
• Dick Lanyon
• MWRD