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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago via AP
In this undated photo provided by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, work takes place on the building of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The Army Corps of Engineers is studying weather to separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi watersheds, which could include returning the Chicago River's original flow in an attempt to stop Asian carp and other invasive species from traveling through the two basins. The flow of the river into the lake was reversed in the late 1800's to prevent pollution from reaching Lake Michigan.
M. Spencer Green / AP
Asian bighead carp swims in an exhibit at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a report released Friday, March 25, 2011, says it might need to increase the voltage of the electric barrier at the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. The report says small carp won't be completely stopped by the barrier unless the barrier uses more power. Asian carp have long been seen as a severe threat to the Great Lakes.
I am always fascinated by the ingenuity of engineers more than a hundred years ago.
As AP reported:
The city was in a predicament. By the late 1800s, the slow-moving Chicago River had become a cesspool of sewage and factory pollution oozing into Lake Michigan, the source of drinking water for the bustling metropolis.
The waterway had grown so putrid that it raised fears of a disease outbreak and concerns about hurting development. So in a first-of-its-kind feat, engineers reversed the river by digging a series of canals that not only carried the stinking mess away from the lake, but also created the only shipping route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.
Now a modern threat — a voracious fish that biologists are desperate to keep out of Lake Michigan — has spurred serious talk of undertaking another engineering feat almost as bold as the original: reversing the river again to restore its flow into the lake.
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago via AP
In this undated photo provided by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago work takes place on the building of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The Army Corps of Engineers is studying weather to separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi watersheds, which could include returning the Chicago River's original flow in an attempt to stop Asian carp and other invasive species from traveling through the two basins. The flow of the river into the lake was reversed in the late 1800's to prevent pollution from reaching Lake Michigan.
M. Spencer Green / AP
A kayaker paddles along the Chicago River in Chicago. Illinois waterways have undergone dramatic improvement in recent decades, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says too much pollution still is overflowing from communities with antiquated sewer systems that route sewage and storm water through the same pipes.
Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
A commercial fisherman throws a Common carp back into the southern branch of the Chicago River after a survey netting Monday, May 23 in Chicago. Federal and state officials outlined a series of projects Monday to pinpoint how far Asian carp have advanced toward the Great Lakes and remove as many as possible from a Chicago waterway that offers the nuisance fish a direct path to Lake Michigan.
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Hi! I think there is a typo -- I doubt that the Army Corps of Engineers is studying "weather" to separate the watersheds -- I suspect they are studying "whether" to separate the watersheds...
Thank you. Well said! (:
I have seen absolutely monstrous varieties of carp/goldfish in that canal...
For God's sake*Why Complain about Asian Carp...Catch it..Fillet it..Will Provide food for the hungry..If man likes Shark Meat,this is a drop in the Ocean*Same is the case with Wild Geese,roaming around Airports*Catch them and make Bombay duck out of it*Point is.We are used to shopping around for food in supermarkets.Before man had to hunt for food..Wild Geese..Asian Carp or whatever..Wild Pigs..Rabbits.Deers ETC ETC..All were on the hunting list,to feed the families..During the famine,the chinese even ate cats and dogs... Al Sayee
Al, guess you have never eaten them, both taste like chit ! Those geese are filled with golf course and suburban lawn chemicals. I like game, but the "golf course" geese taste horrible, unlike the truly wild geese. My thought is to use them for cat food and other animal food.
People that live by and fish Great Lakes say the Asian Carp are already there. The Asian Carp meat is delicious. Problem for non-Asians is the meat is full of bones so most don't know how to enjoy it. It's like biting into a pin cushion for me. I've watched Asians eat it; they can put a large piece in the mouth, chew a minute and spit the bones out. If you catch one, at least try it. You can make a lot of money selling it in the Asian parts of town.
your comments are simply ignorant and simple minded. Asian carp wipe out other species of fish, and, along with that, the multi billion dollar commercial and recreational fishing industries. This is a pending disaster of epic proportions, and the best you can come up with is, "eat it"! Wow.
This is what we get when Corporate America, State and Local Governments aren't being regulated. Do we really want to cut the EPA? Well in case you haven't been paying attention, that's one of the cuts our Congress is proposing. Cuts have to be made and yes and it's bad enough that a number of our Citizens will be affected by those cuts but surely we don't need to make cuts that will affect the entire Nation. If Congress allows this cut we'll certainly see these conditions in our waterways and lakes again along with unhealthy air to breath and ground contamination that sickens residents living nearby.
Let you Congressman know if you are opposed to cutting the EPA.
(I can't believe we're even having to deal with asinine proposal)
Can it and send it to Asia. Flood their markets with cheap imports. What a concept!