Redefining the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal

More than a century after the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was opened to reverse the flow of the Chicago River away from Lake Michigan, the 28-mile waterway is ready to be redefined to more broadly support human, ecological, and economic health.

Already the Canal is teeming with life thanks to action, advocacy, and massive investments in infrastructure which have improved water quality, reduced sewage and pollution, and opened the waterway and the lands along it to new uses. A healthier balance between nature and industry exists more today than at any other point in its history. Opportunity abounds.

Preservation Futures and MK Corona are working with Friends of the Chicago River, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Cook County, DuPage County, Will County, and municipalities from Chicago to Lemont to Lockport to gather the voices of the Canal community to redefine the future of the Canal through a discovery process that will build momentum and broader understanding of the value of the waterway, and lead to investments in public health, conservation, cultural resources, economic strength, climate resilience, and a new name.

Photos: US Army Corps of Engineers, Library of Congress