SEPA Station 4 / Worth Waterfalls

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Worth-Waterfalls/123264181085158

**NOTE** : Google lists the address as 11800 Harlem Ave, Palos Heights, IL. If you type that into Google Maps or Waze, it will take you to south of the channel where you will be unable to access the park and the waterfalls. If you type in 11659 Harlem Ave, Worth, IL it'll take you to the correct location. Or you can type in the intersection of Harlem Ave and 116th St., Worth, IL and that will get you there as well.

Sepa Station 4 is located on the North side of the Cal-Sag Channel (which is short for Calumet-Saganashkee) and the east side of Harlem Ave. and is owned and operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. A SEPA station, or Sidestream Elevated Pool Aeration, pumps oxygen into the water to "enhance the aquatic environment by improving and protecting fish populations and eliminating odors. The SEPA stations are thus not only attracting spectators to the park areas, but also creating new schools of fish, and as a result, new birds of prey and other natural habitat are arriving." Aeration is necessary due to the unnatural form of the waterway. The bottom and banks of the man-made portions of the CAWS are smooth and the current is slow lacking enough turbulence to aerate the water.

"The stations range in size from two to 20 acres and occupy MWRD land along the waterways. With the exception of SEPA 5, all of the stations are open to the public. The five SEPA stations are located along the Calumet-Sag Channel. Depending on weather conditions, the SEPA stations typically run from April 1 through the end of October. The warmer the weather the harder the pump stations work to maintain the appropriate dissolved oxygen levels."

For more information visit:
https://www.mwrd.org/irj/go/km/docs/documents/MWRD/internet/protecting_the_environment/SEPA/htm/Sidestream_Elevated_Pool_Aeration_SEPA.htm

No Photography Permit Required