Envisioning a Chicago Waterway System for the 21st Century

Overview

The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative (GLSLCI) are leading an initiative to develop and evaluate scenarios for separating the Mississippi River and Great Lakes watersheds to prevent the transfer of aquatic invasive species (AIS), with a focus on the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS). The concept is referred to as “ecological separation.” Such a separation should also maintain, if not improve, other aspects of the system including the movement of goods and people, water quality and flood control. With support from a team of consultants, the project will provide a detailed evaluation of potential scenarios for ecological separation, including their costs, benefits and impacts. It will advance two strategic objectives:

• Evaluate the economic, technical, and ecological feasibility of eco-separation by illustrating scenarios to achieve it, along with associated costs, impacts and potential benefits of a re-engineered hydrologic system for greater Chicago; and


• Support and complement the work of the Army Corps of Engineers under their Great Lakes and Mississippi River Inter-Basin Study by defining, assessing and vetting scenarios for ecological separation.

The project will include an extensive effort to engage users of the waterway in the Chicago area, including those who currently depend on current uses of the waterways for commercial and recreational transportation, stormwater and wastewater management.

Key products will include a comprehensive report, a series of supporting technical sub-documents, and a clear and concise summary for a lay audience. An extensive stakeholder engagement process will ensure participation from key interests from throughout the Great Lakes region, but with a special emphasis on the Chicago area. The goal of the project is to demonstrate to Great Lakes policy leaders, including federal officials, that ecological separation is feasible, practical, and effective by illustrating and analyzing realistic options to achieve it.

For more information, please refer to the following:

• News Release, July 22, 2010 (PDF)
• Updated! Project Fact Sheet, August 2010 (PDF)
• Updated! Project FAQ , August 2010 (PDF)
• NEW! Notice of Intent to Request Qualifications and Pre-Proposals for Phase II Consultant Team

Project Funding
This collaborative initiative has received initial funding from the Joyce Foundation, the Great Lakes Protection Fund, the C.S. Mott Foundation and the Frey Foundation. Other funders across the Great Lakes region are being approached to contribute to this project.

Media Coverage
The following are links to several recent articles regarding this initiative:

• Groups study Great Lakes-Mississippi River split
  The Associated Press
• Great Lakes leaders plan study of anti-carp measures
  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• Groups mobilize to stop Asian carp
  The Columbus Dispatch

Background Information

For more than a decade federal and state agencies have taken action to prevent Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan. More than 180 non-native aquatic species have become established in the Great Lakes, causing economic losses estimated at $5.7 billion annually. Asian carp are only the latest—and potentially the most damaging—invasive species poised to invade the Great Lakes. Because they are highly mobile, reproduce quickly and consume massive quantities of food, Asian carp could have devastating impacts on the Great Lakes and threaten the region’s sport fishing industry, valued at $7 billion annually. Similarly, invasive species from the Great Lakes—such as zebra mussels and round gobies—have damaged the Mississippi River ecosystem.

A regional consensus is emerging that a long-term and permanent solution is needed, and that this must entail separating the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds, beginning in the Chicago area. Such a solution would protect these two great watersheds from the transfer of all aquatic invasive species between the basins, not just Asian carp. Separation would avoid continued reliance on control measures that, eventually, will fail, while at the same time accommodating the substantial benefits currently provided by the Chicago Area Waterways System. If done properly, it may also provide more efficient transportation of commercial goods, improved treatment for wastewater and stormwater and restoration of an urban waterway system.

For more information on related and supporting efforts, please refer to the following:

• Permanent Prevention of Asian Carp Act of 2010,
  S. 3553 and H.R. 5625
  Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI) and
  Representative Dave Camp (MI-4)
• Great Lakes Commission Resolution on Asian Carp
  February 2010
• Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative Statement of Unity
  February 2010
• Preliminary Feasibility of Ecological Separation of the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes to Prevent the Transfer of Aquatic Invasive Species (PDF)
  Great Lakes Fishery Commission, November 2008
• Summary of the Aquatic Invasive Species Summit Proceedings
  City of Chicago, 2003
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Inter-Basin Study Website

Questions/Comments

Do you have a question or comment regarding this initiative? Please click here to submit your input. For information on current, ongoing Asian carp prevention and control activities, please refer to asiancarp.org.