Chicago benefits from polluted rivers!!!

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Silver carp were initially introduced to the U.S. intentionally to help manage algae in aquaculture and wastewater facilities with their voracious appetites in the 1970s. Yet decades on, the fish have made their way into major U.S. watersheds and at least 20 states. They’re found in the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers and their tributaries, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For many years, they’ve been on the cusp of entering the Great Lakes–the largest freshwater system on Earth. If the fish were to enter the lakes, they’d be poised to spread into all of the adjoining river systems–scaling up their takeover to new heights.


But something, somehow has been holding them back. Despite making it far up the Illinois River, silver carp still haven’t established a population in Lake Michigan. The “leading edge” or front of their progress has stalled south of Chicago for about a decade, says Cory Suski, a fisheries biologist and professor of natural resources and environmental science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Chicago’s dirty water may be keeping invasive species at bay

New experimental evidence suggests destructive, ‘jumping’ silver carp are deterred by Chicago-area water pollution.

www.popsci.com

 

[DrQ]

 

[Cornell]

Let’s thank The Dave Matthews Band for this

Remembering the disgusting Dave Matthews Band bus incident 20 years later

The driver of a Dave Matthews Band bus ejected the septic tank on the Kinzie Street bridge, sending 800 pounds of human waste onto an architectural tour boat on the Chicago River below.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

A basic risk management principle is that any engineered risk prevention system will fail sooner or later. It's a nice system, but at some point it is going to fail. These days the biggest threat is a weather event that overwhelms existing infrastructure.