Chris Bentley

Chicago

Associate Producer at Here & Now

Curious citizen🤔Radio guy & podcast dude for NPR's Here & Now: https://t.co/B7FNh0LTz6 Making noise w/CDPROM, La Croix Mystique & more

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Articles

Plastics are 'ubiquitous' in the Great Lakes. A robot is trying to change that

2 weeks ago | boisestatepublicradio.org | Chris Bentley

Michigan’s Grand Haven State Park is a little chilly for swimming and sand castles in early May, but the weather is perfect for a cleanup crew combing the shore of Lake Michigan. Volunteers working with the Alliance for the Great Lakes pluck Styrofoam cups from the sand and catch grocery bags bouncing down the beach like tumbleweeds. Most of the trash they pick up is plastic.
Cleaning up Great Lakes beaches

2 weeks ago | wbur.org | Chris Bentley

Cleaning up Great Lakes beachesJamie Cross is driving a battery-powered robot with a remote control, following behind its treads as it digs several inches into the beach. (Chris Bentley/Here & Now)Plastic pollution is a growing problem on our beaches, including the Great Lakes. A 2024 report by the International Joint Commission's Great Lakes Science Advisory Board said microplastics are "ubiquitous" in Great Lakes water, sediment and wildlife.
Construction begins on pipeline to bring Great Lakes water to suburbs in need

2 weeks ago | boisestatepublicradio.org | Chris Bentley

For the full story, click here. This year, Chicago breaks ground on a pipeline that will bring water from the Great Lakes to some suburbs whose groundwater is running dry. Since 2015, Joliet has been in a race to overhaul the area’s water infrastructure at a cost of more than $2 billion, most of that paying for a roughly 62-mile network of new pipes and pump stations that will carry drinking water from Chicago’s purification plants to Joliet and five neighboring communities.
Construction begins on pipeline to bring Great Lakes water to suburbs in need

2 weeks ago | wbur.org | Chris Bentley

Construction begins on pipeline to bring Great Lakes water to suburbs in needFor the full story, click here. This year, Chicago breaks ground on a pipeline that will bring water from the Great Lakes to some suburbs whose groundwater is running dry.
Are there fallout shelters left in Chicago?

3 weeks ago | wbez.org | Chris Bentley
London’s ‘super sewer’ is keeping sewage out of the Thames River

1 month ago | wesa.fm | Chris Bentley

Spring rains that once might have spilled sewage into the River Thames are instead filling up London’s new “super sewer” – a massive network of tunnels designed to bring the city’s plumbing into the 21st century. Tideway, the company formed to build the new infrastructure, began construction more than a decade ago and announced the connection of the new system in February.
London’s ‘super sewer’ is keeping sewage out of the Thames River

1 month ago | boisestatepublicradio.org | Chris Bentley

Spring rains that once might have spilled sewage into the River Thames are instead filling up London’s new “super sewer” – a massive network of tunnels designed to bring the city’s plumbing into the 21st century. Tideway, the company formed to build the new infrastructure, began construction more than a decade ago and announced the connection of the new system in February.
London’s ‘super sewer’ is keeping sewage out of the Thames River

1 month ago | wbur.org | Chris Bentley

London’s ‘super sewer’ is keeping sewage out of the Thames RiverBazalgette Park under construction in Blackfriars. (Chris Bentley/Here & Now)After a decade of construction, London's "super sewer" is almost finished. Tideway, the company building the massive expansion to London's underground drainage system, says its new network of pipes has already intercepted 6.8 million tons of sewage and runoff that might otherwise have spilled into the Thames River.
In search of clean water, scientists are improving desalination technology

1 month ago | wbur.org | Peter O'Dowd |Chris Bentley |Grace Griffin

Drought and climate change are impacting water supplies around the world. But desalination — pulling fresh, drinkable water from saltwater— can offer some relief. Desalination technology has existed for a while; dry countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia and Spain have used it for years. Most desalination technology uses a lot of energy, and leaves behind a toxic byproduct: all the salt extracted from the water. But scientists and entrepreneurs are working to improve its capabilities.
Who can drink Great Lakes water? Joliet, Illinois, raises a familiar — and contentious — question

1 month ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Chris Bentley

This year, Chicago breaks ground on a pipeline that will bring water from the Great Lakes to some suburbs whose groundwater is running dry. Joliet, Illinois, about 30 miles from Lake Michigan, draws its water from an aquifer deep underground . The area’s geology effectively seals off that underground reservoir, preventing rain from replenishing it. Since people started pumping from it in the 19th century, the aquifer has been drained much faster than it can recharge.