1673 Watershed Great Lakes Courtesy of Chicago History …s3.amazonaws.com › chicagoriver › rich...
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1 The Chicago River… A Turbulent History Mark Hauser Mark Hauser Education Manager Franklin Wells LaSalle LaSalle Clark Dearborn Great Lakes Watershed 1673 Jacques Marquette L i J lli t Mississippi River Watershed Louis J olliet Courtesy of Chicago History Museum DesPlaines River Chicago River Calumet River Mud Lake
Transcript of 1673 Watershed Great Lakes Courtesy of Chicago History …s3.amazonaws.com › chicagoriver › rich...
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The Chicago River…A Turbulent History
Mark HauserMark HauserEducation Manager
Franklin
Wells
LaSalleLaSalle
Clark
Dearborn
Great LakesWatershed1673
Jacques MarquetteL i J lli t
Mississippi RiverWatershed
Louis Jolliet
Courtesy of Chicago History Museum
DesPlainesRiver Chicago
River
CalumetRiver
Mud Lake
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Courtesy of Chicago History Museum
1790Jean Baptiste Point DuSable
builds his cabin
1848
Chicago’s
Courtesy of Chicago History Museum
Chicago’sPopulation
1845 12,0001848 20,000
Courtesy of Chicago History Museum
Growing up at the Union Stockyards
500,000 gallons of Chicago River water was pumped into the stockyards each day. So much waste drained into the South Fork of the river that it came to bear the name Bubbly Creek due to the
gaseous products of decomposition. The creek bubbles to this day.
Courtesy of MetropolitanWater Reclamation District 1880
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Courtesy of MetropolitanWater Reclamation District
80Chicago Death Rate (per 1000 people)
20
30
40
50
60
70Chicago Death Rate (per 1000 people)
Sewers constructed S&S Canal constructed
CS Channel constructed
0
10
1845
1850
1855
1860
1865
1870
1875
1880
1885
1890
1895
1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
1925
1930
Courtesy of MetropolitanWater Reclamation District1890-
1900Chicago
28 miles longChicago
Sanitary &Ship
Canal 22 feet deep250 feet wide
Courtesy of Chicago History Museum
Courtesy of MetropolitanWater Reclamation District
Jan. 2, 1900
1922
1922Courtesy of MetropolitanWater Reclamation District Chicago’s
Population
1890 1,000,0001907 2,000,000, ,1926 3,000,000
6.2 Billion Gallonsof “Water” per Day
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1972
Courtesy of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
CLEAN WATER ACTreduces Point-Source Pollution
2004 Fecal Coliform levels at WRP
5000
6000BacteriaBacteria
2000
3000
4000
UpstreamDownstream
Col
onie
s p
er 1
00m
l
Chicago
0
1000
North Side Stickney Calumet
Safe swimming level (200 colonies/100 ml)
Safe boating level(1000 colonies/100 ml)
Courtesy of Metropolitan WaterReclamation District
Tunnel andReservior Plan
(TARP)
Asian carpWhat is an Asian Carp? Generally when people talk about Asian Carp, they mean two closely related species: Bighead Carp and Silver Carp.
What is the issue? Asian carp have been in Mississippi River since the early 1970s when they escaped from fisheries in the southern U.S. They’ve bee slowly moving up the Illinois River for the past 30 years and are now threatening to get into Lake Michigan via the Chicago River
Bighead Carp
Silver Carpvia the Chicago River.
Why is it a problem? Because Asian carp have no natural predators, their populations grow to large. They overeat plankton and small fish.
Silver Carp
