As the city of Chicago has grown in population and industry since it was established more than 180 years ago, so has its need for clean water. Meeting that growing need has presented many challenges. Today, the Chicago Area Waterway System is a complicated network of modified rivers and canals which are used for navigation and shipping, residential and industrial wastewater management, recreation, and aesthetics.
For more than 100 years, the Illinois-Michigan Canal, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and the Cal-Sag Canal have connected the Great Lakes and Mississippi River systems. Asian carp, currently confined to the Mississippi River system, are threatening to invade Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Researchers reaffirm that providing safe drinking water to Chicago residents must remain the number one priority; however, the Asian carp must be blocked to prevent them from getting into the Great Lakes.
University of Illinois researcher Ken Olson and his colleague from Iowa State University, Lois Wright Morton observe that reversing the flow of the Chicago River in 1892, construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900, and subsequent management still constitute a good solution to the city’s unique water problems.
Read more at University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Photo: A tugboat pushes a barge on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal past a coal-fired electric power plant.
Photo Credit: University of Illinois
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