Chicago River Flowing Backwards - Climate Change impact

Chicago River Flowing Backwards Would Be Least of Region's Concerns - Bloomberg: "Here’s the scenario: the worst U.S. drought since the 1930s is lowering the level of Lake Michigan, and if it drops another 6 inches or so this winter, it could fall below the level of the Chicago River. That means the dirty waters of the Chicago River, which were diverted 100 years ago to preserving the relatively pristine lake, would be sucked backwards.
In practice, three sets of locks that divide the river from the lake would only allow a relatively small amount of river water to leak back into the lake when the locks are opened to ships, says Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. It’s roughly the equivalent of putting a thimbleful of dirty water into a bathtub.
The bigger concern is that if the flow from the lake stops, so too does the flow of the Chicago River. The lake water that currently flushes the Chicago River and its burden of treated and untreated sewage through the Des Plaines and Illinois rivers into the Mississippi would stop flowing, temporarily transforming swaths of the Chicago River into a lifeless, de-oxygenated bog. "

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