Chicago River. Photo: Olivier Aumage via Flickr

After more than a year of federal requests that state regulators improve the Chicago River, the Obama administration has decided to aggressively intervene by ordering an ambitious sewage treatment program.

That’s what Michael Hawthorne reports today in the Chicago Tribune.

Part of the plan is a complete overhaul of Chicago’s two largest sewage treatment plants that churn industrial and domestic waste water into the river, Hawthorne reports.

The move is the result of what federal officials believe to be massive inaction by Illinois regulators to keep the urban waterway fit for recreation.