Metropolitan Water Reclamation Board recognizes Hazel Johnson
Du Buclet – Kimberly Du Buclet is a commissioner with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. She has been a commissioner since 2018. Photo provided by Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
Hazel Johnson was an environmental activist who lived in Altgeld Gardens on the city’s south side. In 1979, she founded the People for Community Recovery. A New Orleans native, she fought environmental racism and is considered the Mother of the Environmental Justice Movement.
Johnson started her environmental activism after her husband died. She died in 2011 and her daughter, Cheryl, continues her mother’s legacy with the People for Community Recovery.
On Thursday, April 7th, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Kimberly du Buclet submitted a resolution honoring Johnson during the Board of Commissioner’s meeting.
Du Buclet said she wanted to create the resolution because Johnson fought for environmental justice in Chicago and raised National awareness about the connections between socioeconomics, public health and environmental inequities in low income Black and brown communities.
“I read about her, and part of my mission, being on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation Board, is to address environmental injustices. She’s just somebody that really became someone I looked up to and the work she’s done over the years,” Du Buclet said.
Du Buclet has been a Commissioner on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation Board since 2018. She is one of nine commissioners who sits on the MWRD Board. The agency is responsible for ensuring the waterways are clean and that wastewater does not re-enter Lake Michigan. Du Buclet believes MWRD is a public health, as well as an environmental agency, because it is charged with keeping the fresh water clean.
“Hazel Johnson fits right into that, because she was very much an advocate of clean water, clean air and making sure that there was equity amongst those things in all communities,” Du Buclet said.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District serves Cook County, Chicago, as well as suburban areas. MWRD Commissioners serve the entire Metropolitan District. Du Buclet meets with residents throughout the county and tries to solve issues that might arise throughout the county, so does her colleagues on the board.
Du Buclet said flooding disproportionately affects communities of color. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District works to prevent flooding throughout the district, with specific focus on communities of color. Du Buclet believes that Johnson’s work should be talked about more and her profile should be raised higher.
“The work she did and the time she was working on Environmental Justice issues made a huge difference. It’s important, as we celebrate Earth Day, which is coming up, and Arbor Day, that we recognize and celebrate her as one of the original founders and creators of the term environmental justice. She was fighting for these issues long before most of us were thinking about it,” Du Buclet said, adding that Johnson being an African-American woman is important to her.
Du Buclet intended on presenting a copy of the resolution to Johnson’s daughter, Cheryl, but she was not in attendance at the board meeting. There is a plan to present the resolution to Johnson’s daughter in the near future.
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