Since 1900, Lake Michigan has been losing water to the Mississippi River Basin from an artificial diversion at Chicago. Originally constructed to flush the sewage of the city away from its Lake-based drinking water intakes and public beaches, the diversion is now a major source of water supply for Chicago.
And it is "grandfathered," with unknown implications, in the proposed new Great Lakes anti-export agreement.
This is one of the best pieces of journalism done in years on what the diversion means in NE Illinois -- and why that region might want more water from Lake Michigan in years to come.
The Chicago area sits on the world's largest source of lake freshwater, yet mid-summer lawns are as brown as a scarecrow in October.
"We're the only major city in America that is on water rations," said Jack Farnan, general superintendent for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
The Chicago area's water rations stem from a decades-old Supreme Court decree that limits how much water Illinois can take out of the Great Lakes. That limit is the reason that any community that receives lake water must have some type of conservation ordinance in effect. In many parts of the Southland, that means restrictions on when you can wash your car, sprinkle your lawn or water your plants.
http://www.starnewspapers.com/star/spnews/news/31-sp1.htm
Posted by Dave at July 31, 2005 08:52 AM