Reversal of the Chicago River (continued)

Finally, in May 1889, the Illinois legislature establishes the Sanitary District of Chicago, which is charged with

establishing a comprehensive system of sanitation for the entire Chicago region; development of a system to handle storm flow; improvement and expansion of navigable waterways; and protection of the regions water supply (Chicago Public Library).

This makes possible the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal - and the reversal of the Chicago River.

The Commission finally approves a project to construct an artificial waterway capable of carrying 600,000 cubic feet per minute from the south fork of the Chicago River to Joliet. Trains remove the soil (Figure 15). During the 10 years of construction, 42,340,000 cubic yards of rock and soil are excavated, and 460,000 cubic yards of masonry are used for channel walls and bridge abutments (Lanyon 2000).

Estimates at the time are that the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the reversal of the Chicago River, and the additional Lake Michigan water will dilute the sewage and solve the problem:

If we admit that the ultimate population in the area to be drained will reach 2,500,000, and its sewage product (150 gallons per head) will amount to 375,000,000 gallons per day, this quantity - 6,480,000,000 gallons - would give a fraction over 17 dilutions or more than sixteen parts of lake water to one part of sewage, instead of two parts of lake water to one of sewage as now (Illinois State Board of Health 1901).

Figure 15: Soil Removal Trains Associated with Construction of the Canal (Chicago Daily News)