Atbeginning of the 20th centurythe city of Chicago (USA) had to face a great environmental challenge caused by its urban and industrial growth: the river which crosses the city had transported up to theAug Michiganthe main water supply of the entire area, including Chicago, such a quantity of pollutants and other toxic substances to contaminate the waters of the basin. To avoid further exaggerating the enormous environmental and health problems resulting from this, in 1900 the engineer Sylvester Chesbrough a seemingly crazy idea came up: reverse the flow of the river Chicago with a colossal engineering feat.
The Chicago River: between pollution and epidemics
The Chicago River it is a short stream of 251 kilometers which crosses the city of the same name. Between the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the incredible urban growth of Chicago resulted in a massive increase in waste materials: industrial residues, leftovers from agricultural production, waste from breeding and slaughter, waste water and the most disparate polluting substances were poured into the river waters, deteriorating its delicate environmental balance. But the issue was not just ethical. The river in fact flowed into the nearby main Lake Michigan supply basin of drinking water throughout the region. The pollution of the lake waters led to the spread of serious illnessessuch as typhoid, dysentery and cholera: in 1854 alone more than 1400 people died of cholera.
The “solution”: reverse the flow of the Chicago River
Various proposals were put forward to solve the environmental and health problem, none of which, however, bore long-term fruit. The “solution” came from the engineer Sylvester Chesbroughwho proposed to reverse the flow of the Chicago River to remove dangerous polluted water from the city and its main water supply basin.
The project was undoubtedly the most ambitious civil engineering work in America at the time and required eight years of hard work and the use of thousands of workers to complete the project. Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canalan artificial canal approximately long 45 kilometers which diverted the waters of the Chicago River to the Illinois River and, finally, to the Mississippi.
Through a system of locks and dams and taking advantage of the Earth’s gravitational force the river began to flow in the opposite direction to the natural one. The project was successful, and within a few years the water quality of Lake Michigan began to improve again.
The controversies regarding the project
Today it would be natural to immediately think of a significant problem regarding the solution found by Sylvester Chesbrough: the brilliant engineer’s project, in fact, although advanced from a technical point of view, it didn’t really solve the problem: he simply sent it in another direction.
Already at the time, many doubts were raised during the implementation of the project and several accusations and as many injunctions were addressed to the Chicago administration by those who, unfortunately, found themselves along the path of the new course of pollution. However, the project continued and was completed.
For a more definitive solution, and certainly more in line with the environmental policies of our time, it was necessary to wait a few more decades (in the mid-20th century), with the creation of the first water treatment plants.
