Asian Carp Debate: Federal Action Not Enough?

The Washington Post picked up an Associated Press editorial today that examines the complications, imminent risks, and bold solutions required to address the problem of the Asian Carp in the Great Lakes.John Flesher, a well-respected and established environmental reporter, highlghted the point that the Asian Carp issue has brought a debate that stretches back over 100 years back into the limelight: the permanent separtation of Lake Michigan from the Mississippi River Basin.

At the turn of the last century, the directional flow of the Chicago River was reversed to deal with the city's sewage and wastewater problems, literally sending the problems downstream. The "Illinois Diversion", as it has come to be called, is the only large scale water diversion allowed under the Great Lakes Compact of 2008.

While permanently fixing this problem would be a massive undertaking, it would finally correct a problem that has unjustly burdened the Mississippi River basin for over 100 years, and it would force the city of Chicago to create a sustainable plan to deal with its waste, rather than just sending it down the river. It would also keep the Asian Carp where it belongs: out of the Great Lakes.

Read the editorial here.