Diversion of Water From Great Lakes
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is designed to work by taking water from Lake Michigan and discharging it into the Mississippi River watershed. At the time of construction, a specific amount of water diversion was authorized by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and approved by the Secretary of War, under provisions of various Rivers and Harbors Acts; over the years however this limit was not honored or well regulated. While the increased flow more rapidly flushed the untreated sewage and increased navigation and commerce, it also was seen as a hazard to navigation of concern to USACE in relation to the level of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, from which the water was diverted. Litigation ensued from 1907 which eventually saw states downstream of the canal siding with the sanitary district and those states downstream of Lake Michigan with Canada siding against the district. The litigation was eventually decided by the Supreme Court in Sanitary District of Chicago v. United States in 1925, and again in Wisconsin v. Illinois in 1929. In 1930 management of the canal was turned over to the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers reduced the flow of water from Lake Michigan into the canal but kept it open for navigation purposes. These decisions prompted the sanitary district to accelerate their treatment of raw sewage. Today, diversions from the Great Lakes system are regulated by an international treaty with Canada, through the International Joint Commission, and by governors of the Great Lakes states.
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