Time to Restore Watershed Boundaries?

In 1900 Chicago accomplished an astounding engineering feat. In the largest earth-moving effort undertaken in North America at the time they disintegrated the watershed boundary between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. The impetus for constructing a 12 mile canal linking the two was a series of major typhoid outbreaks in the mid 1800s caused by sewage buildup along Chicago’s Lake Michigan waterfront from where the city also drew its drinking water. The idea was to reverse the flow of the Chicago River to carry water from the Great Lakes to the city then discharge the water (now wastewater) via the newly constructed canal to the Illinois River in the Mississippi River watershed.

For the past 100 years, this man-made connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basins has allowed invasive species like the zebra mussel to spread. The zebra mussel, one of the 180 known invasives in the Great Lakes, quickly spread to the heart of North America via the arterial Mississippi River after it was introduced to the Great Lakes via ballast water in 1985. Well, in return the south is sending us the infamous Asian Carp. Despite another astounding engineering feat creating an electrical field pulsating in the water of the canal, the Carp are likely to find their way into the Great Lakes. If you haven’t seen or heard enough about their impact to our native fisheries, check out this National Geographic special on Asian Carp lurking in the Illinois River.

Is a 100 pound flying fish enough motivation to explore the potential for restoration? Perhaps so….
Last Monday, Wisconsin and four other Great Lakes states filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The complaint requests that the court order that the Corps expedite a feasibility study developing and evaluating options for the permanent physical separation of the Chicago Area Waterway System from Lake Michigan so as to prevent the transfer of Asian carp or other invasive species between the Mississippi River Basin and the Great Lakes Basin.

Last Thursday, The Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Cities Initiative announced that they are “Envisioning a Chicago Area Waterway System for the 21st Century” by embarking on a $2 million study of the possibility of restoring the watershed divide, improving waste management and simultaneously boosting the region’s economy.

Meanwhile in D.C., there is legislation to the same tune floating in the halls of the U.S. Capital. On June 30th the Permanent Prevention of Asian Carp Acts (HR 5625/S 3553) were introduced. Two days later they were sent to committee (the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works). This legislation directs the Army Corps of Engineers to complete a study within 18 months on how to permanently separate the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes basin. Call your representatives and ask them to support this legislation if and when it surfaces from committee.

Stay tuned as this fish story unravels.

Some Sweetwater for a Sweet Water

The Southeast Wisconsin Watersheds Trust, Inc., also known as Sweetwater, will host the 7th Annual Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference on September 15 in Wauwatosa.

Sweetwater is a relatively new effort, bringing together a diverse group of people to find ways to improve water quality in the rivers of the Milwaukee Area. The Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference gives Sweetwater an opportunity to broadcast water-related information to a huge audience and to promote collaboration among all walks of life to tackle the many issues surrounding water quality.

This year’s special guest will be Cameron Davis, the US EPA’s “Czar” for Great Lakes policy and funding initiatives. If you are interested in attending, please visit Sweetwater’s website to register: www.swwtwater.org.

Two-Wheeled Trip on the Lower Chip!

On Sunday, August 29 we join our event co-sponsor and friends at the Lower Chippewa River Alliance for a bike-seat view of a beautiful stretch of this sandy and island-laced river via an old rail line converted to a bike path. Accompanying us will be experts about the river's geology, human history and botany. We'll take a break in Durand (about 19 miles) for everyone to grab a bite to eat before returning to the starting point, either via the bike path or, for the adventurous, along a hilly alternate route. There may also be car transportation back to the start, so if you are interested in that, let us know. The whole trip will be about 38 miles (or 19 one way). Click here for more information or to register.