St.Louis was pissed,but they got their revenge by turning that water into Budweiser and shipping it right back to Chicago.

Only a town in 1833 and hosting the World's Fair in 1893?!? Chicago grew FAST!!!

Lived in Chicago all my life and NEVER was taught this. I'm so grateful for WTTW and youtube! I feel smarter already!!

I believe that pic of a man standing by Bubbly Creek was Philip Armour of the Armour meatpacking company. He was looking for a way to capitalize on all that pork fat in the creek. Thus he went into the soap business. If I am not mistaken, Dial soap is a modern product of that venture.

The reason you keep having more flooding is because you have such a big area with concrete,asphalt and buildings. It’s not bigger rain events.

I’m always impressed by how they built infrastructure buildings to be beautiful in those days. That pumping station is a work of art.

River Trent in the East Midlands of England is large (for UK) and meandering river. 50 years ago it was heavily polluted. Today we have trout and salmon. Water cleanliness that nobody dreamed possible.

Just fascinating. I thought the Willamette River through Portland was badly polluted back in the days, the Chicago River was a hundred times worse.

My dad told me about work camps such as mentioned in this documentary. He said there were long tables for the workers to eat at. Tin pans were nailed to the table and food put in the pans. A group of workers would sit and eat. Afterwards someone with a rag would wipe all the pans. The next group of workers would sit there and eat from those pans.

So they could have filtered it like other cities, but chose for over a hundred years to dump waste into the water.....that is insane.

Thanks for streaming great episode

One of several of grandmother's sister came to Chicago after living in what is now the Czech Republic. Her husband was working in a quarry, and a flying stone decapitated him. She left shortly after the accident. She worked for years and raised 2 children by herself. She never remarried, but she was the only one of my grandma's sisters who learned to drive. Grandma tried it but never became a driver.

At some point during the reversing the river project and having to raise & lift the downtown project; Somebody had to have said: "Geeze someone really should have picked a different spot to first build this city?" ~it's mind boggling the amount of effort and giant projects that needed to be done in order to make Chicago liveable. It's absolutely crazy but I'm very fascinated with it all.

England’s port cities from Newcastle on Tyne to London originally installed sewers perpendicular to the river. It cost £Billions to install interceptor sewers and many were not completed until 1980s. Newcastle with its steep banks to the narrow Tyne estuary was especially difficult. But especially important because the in-out of the tides meant river water (complete with sewage) took many days to reach the sea.

I grew up around LA and have been to Chicago a few times and its definitely a more down to earth place.

Wow, I have learned something new today. Thx for sharing 😊

The race to send the sewer water down the river in the other direction to other towns downstream

I love this series of Chicago Stories. WTTW 😍🤗

I heard that even the pilgrims brought beer to drink on the Mayflower; water was too dangerous! The brewing process boiled the water, but people didn’t know back then that was the key factor in ridding the water of bacteria etc .., Hindsight is always 20/20 & it’s just true even today; Man just isn’t known for being good stewards of the planet

I had heard bits and pieces of this story before, but did not realize the devastation caused by Chicago's short-sighted decision. It's hard to understand why only St Louis put up a tough battle to stop the reversal when so many down-river communities were being affected.

I grew up north of the city and always wondered the history of the river. This was very informative. Thanks!

Such a great documentary!

The concept of actually treating sewage and drinking water was the only the actual winner here. I live in Colorado essentially the highest point in the US where the water SHOULD be safest to drink, 🙄 every so often we have some tourist who drinks from one of our “clear mountain streams” and suffers greatly for it. Surface water isn’t really safe to drink and really probably never was. For millennia humans have been digging wells. Even that has it’s risks but it’s about as safe as safe as your going to get.

This is simply great video thank you ....👍👍👍👍👍

30:30 - what difference does it make what color the workers were? Workers moved the soil, and built the canal. Period. Workers. People who worked.

What a documentary! Good and bad it's unbelievable what all was done. This is a incredible story good and bad.

Good program - it even took 45mins before rain on a huge area of concrete and asphalt rapidly draining to the lake and river was blamed on “Climate Change” vs building and paving over natural land.

Hi Mike, I live near Pt. Huron and send a lot of time on the beaches looking for various fun stuff, I love watching the freighters in the St. Clair River heading out to the lake, I always wonder where they go, now that I stared watching you, I realize just how far they do go, love your channel, I will start watching your past shows, ❤

Wow! What an eye opener! Great documentary.

Very interesting. Thank you

A very well balanced summary of what was done with suggestions of what must be considered regarding the future.

You do show why our species is doomed, one side cannot have the lakes polluted but screw everyone south of us. We deserve our fate.

Fascinating tale of human intervention/interference that launched a series of unintended or unanticipated consequences. Remind me of the actions of one Captain Henry M. Shreve digging a canal to avoid a bend in the Mississippi River, and subsequent removal of an old log jam on the Atchafalaya River. Now the Mississippi wants to change course which would be a disaster for New Orleans, and the US. One would hope we learn from our mistakes!

Excellent broadcast. Cheers!

Have extended family that live down in Marseilles Illinois and I'm not sure today but I remember a trip down there in the late 70s and being down by the big truss bridge over the river with some cousins with the river at high water and the river being churned up by the dam spillways being open still smelled of Chicago sewage.

If the canal was built today it would take 30 years, union squabbles and 300 billion dollars.

I now have more answers about my city. Very cool and educational documentary !

So, essentially people built a town/city in a place that wasn't ever suitable for it. Then instead of looking for a better place, they made poor decisions over and over again, perhaps making their lives a bit better, but making it worse for far more people elsewhere. The selfish actions of humans to the detriment of other humans and all other forms of life on the planet seems unstoppable.

Great presentation

Good stuff.

They will spend all that money and effort to divert a river but they wouldn't build a wastewater, or water, treatment plant????? Like the guy at 50:50 said. Good grief, they destroyed other peoples's livelihoods and stunk up other peoples's backyards instead of fixing THEIR mess.

I remember the beaches around Chicago and north of Chicago having hundreds of dead fish on the beaches in the mid 60s.

So glad that Michigan and the other Great Lakes states fight to save our water supply. It was irresponsible of Chicago to save themselves by endangering the health of half of the country in this way. And in the end, it was really only a problem that they CHOSE TO FORCE ON SO MANY OTHER CITIES.

I caught that "Big Dig" reference around 27:00! Great documentary!

I'm glad Dr. Low fixed the lie that Joliet and Marquette "discovered" something, and was truthful about the history of this country.. Love Him!!

Thanks you.

Excellent examples of cause and affect.

Being downstream of any pollution source is not a good thing despite all the treatment. And it always has to do with how much $ folks are willing to spend to clean up stuff. Mostly I am not convinced that it is a good idea to make a direct connection of those two watersheds are the best decision despite what the experts say - I agree with the one fellow messing with nature at this level is risky!

Amazing how much work it took to do this, only to be unnecessary in the long run.

Thats dope how the water flows through the city. They wanted to do Something similar in Dallas. They have not completed it yet.

Wonderful documentary!!! Thank you WTTW! 👍

Thats some crazy shit actually

I had always wondered about those low-lying residences on the southwest side. Now I know why it's constructed that way.

People still piss & shit in the river from homeless to drunks out on the town

I lived in Chicago on the 1980s, and one day i was in cab coming back from Midway airport after a vacation when my and my wife heard something on the radio that took us a few minutes to even understand. There was serious flooding in the basements of many commercial buildings in the Loop, like the Marshall Field building, because someone accidentally poked a hole in the river. There are big tunnels under the Loop that connect the deep sub-basements of many large commercial buildings, and in some places the tunnels come extremely close to the river. Somebody driving a piling in the river was careless and suddenly the river was draining into the basements. It was a strange "welcome home", that's for sure.

Interesting history. I once lived in Chicago, and now live in St Louis, so I understand both sides of the debate.

Interesting. Now I know how it was done.

26:30 - i wonder where that box of soil went? Probly in an obscure museum storage facility somewhere.

I live in a small town and our first sewage treatment plant was built in 1962. Before that it flowed untreated into a river.

I'm impressed! Took much longer than I anticipated to hear someone bring up the "climate crisis ".

Life is not fair, never has been and never will be. Accept that fact, and live a happier life!

No one involved was understanding root-cause. It's density of population. Cities should not overgrow their boundaries of resources and should never do major activities that effect others.

It was a sewer back then literally and it is a sewer today politically

The one rule of thumb has always been! Is to never shit where you eat and drink!

You’ve heard of the Big Bang theory,this was the Big Flush theory. Chicago sent it’s sewage to St.Louis,St.Louis sent it’s sewage to Memphis, and Memphis sent it’s sewage to New Orleans.

Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"

i was told when i was young,lake erie in erie pa was a toilet 2,tons of junk and i herd i was on fire a couple of times, i live about 1 hour from erie

Siting Chicago in lowlands..and NOT CONSIDERING POLLUTION IS A LESSON... OH MY... PAY NOW...OR.. PAY LATER

funny the never thought to stop dumping and cleaning it 😅

Interesting documentary! I live in Michigan and visit Chicago often. Of course we all know about asian carp and the electric fence, but I had no idea about the flow direction, past or present, of the Chicago river. All crap, literally, was flowing into the lake but then stagnated right at the exit point since lakes do not 'flow' in the manner that rovers do. That was heck of an undertaking simply reverse the flow of the river. Funny thing is, and the Chief Justice talks about it in his notes on the Opinion, that St. Louis sending all its sewage into the Mississippi for other cities to deal with just as they claimed Chicago was going to do to them. Of course, every city and town in the world did the same thing at that time; today many still do. Doesn't make it right, its just the facts.

You have to remember that sewage treatment plants weren't constructed till after WW2. And massive sounds of untreated wastes flowed into several river systems world wide!

Glad they stopped using the river as a toilet and started using the El to go to the bathroom

I was just down-town Chicago last week, walking around and the smell of raw sewage is always in the air.

At the 34 minute mark they make it out to seem as if it's a few trustees wiith shovels attempting to breach the frozen earthen dam, seconds later a dredge operator completes the task. The workers in suits never picked up those shovels, that seems like urban legend.

The illinois river is basically a sewer even today. Every town along the river sends there sewage down river when storm water exceeds treatment plants’ capacity. Its also basically silted in from erosion run off and full of phosphates and nitrogen from fertilizer run off. Its full of invasive carp that have destroyed many other species. Put a boat in the river for a hour and when you take it out theres a cruddy oily brown film on the bottom. 😜

Caprice, Dolomite, sheesh this reminds me of my childhood

Maybe it's time to figure out how to clean up the muck. The lady in the end of this documentary is great at deflecting with her upbeat almost joyful voice accentuating the positives. She left out the fact that this great development stands in place at the loss of the little guys downstream. Now that the major damage has passed one would think that the main objective would be a continued effort to reverse the damage done instead another reverse of the poop ditch. As long as people in power continue to sacrifice whatever and whoever they consider expendable we all pay the price in the end. You've got a lot going on up there. Chicago is an amazing place. My first adventure there was telling. The bus driver wouldn't let us off the bus to pee at the first stop. For our own safety. After a short wait I went on to enjoy the field museum then back to Bloomington. Then I moved back home to rural Illinois, corn fields, bean fields and oil wells. I'd love to go back some day. I didn't get to enjoy much of my last two trips. The lake was beautiful but boy was it cold and windy and spitting snow. I didn't even get to try the pizza. 😢

Genius American Engineering I’m proud but again!

With 38:55 a name like Holmes you can believe everyone is safe until the fair of 1893.

Now i know what was that special taste in Montreal´s water. It was "Chicago flavor and aroma" 😅😊

I rode on the boat called the Chicago trader and I worked up in on that area Lamont was our home base. It was very nasty but it got cleaner out over a decade it still will take decades more before it clears out enough to be anything natural. I saw rats run across a river full of floating guts and I saw that bubbling Creek place. I rode on a boat through the steel mill area and I went 6 hours making 5 or 6 mi an hour easily and I never saw a single blade of grass. I was glad I was only naughty and I was hell's own boatman. It was hellish in its own way,

The name Ossian is the Scottish spelling of the Irish, Oisín, pronounced O SHEEN', not oss ee an'.

You still have to expect to live in filth in cities to this day.

Poor people working hard to better their lives….. hmmmm sounds like good incentive. Work hard have pride no matter what your skin color is and work for a better future. What a concept! 🎉

But did the river ever catch on fire? The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire multiple times in the 50s & 60s.

I'm left wondering what value the Chicago River provides to the city. Could it not just be filled in?

Weird how that heavy masonry looks old as hell and looks like they just cleaned out the existing canal in some images...it's hard to tell but the old foundations aren't lieing...

Didvthey revetse the direction of thevriver,? Or did they redirect the outlet of the river?

I wouldn't wade in the Chicago river today. You will not make me belive that a river running through a city is not polluted.

"Clean, green NZ" has many, many waterways and lakes that are poisoned through agriculture and industry. The three rivers of Gisborne, the rivers of Hauraki Plains and Waikato are major examples.

46:14 this is a profoundly incorrect statement - or at very least, profoundly misleading. Just about every city (and countless villages) east of the Mississippi releases RAW sewage with ZERO treatment at Combined Sewer Overflows (upstream of treatment plants, often far upstream). Every single overflow event is a noncompliant event. Only the very worse offenders are hit with consent orders to reduce the overflow frequency and volume. Most cities and towns have combined sewers - storm and sanitary in one. The municipalities can install overflows that allow surplus flow to discharge into a local waterway, or they can watch that same sewage bubble out of manholes, catch basins and into every basement in town (aside from the few that have backflow prevention devices, which just make the flows from that building back up until levels exceed sewer flow levels). I've been analyzing and modeling municipal and industrial sewers across the East coast for the past decade. I've worked on villages as small as 2000 people and on cities as large as NYC and everything in between. All have raw sewage overflows almost annually if not more often. My own city has several CSO discharge points in addition to one at the plant. Yes, when flows reaching municipal wastewater treatment plants exceeds the plants' capacities, they flash treat it to kill bacteria prior to discharging the raw sewage AT THE PLANTS. That's only at plants (and at some pumping stations or other large nodes in major systems). The problem is getting all the flows TO the plant. Which is virtually impossible. The sewers weren't designed for the loads they see and that doesn't account for the groundwater that leaks into all of them, let alone the increase in impervious surfaces our urban areas have seen since we started building these sewers. it's an extremely complex issue. For example, an overflow event of 10k gallons might be worse than an event of 100k gallons, bc volume isn't the only factor. Discharge rate (volume over time like gallons per minute) is also important but perhaps the most important factor is concentration. People envision turds being discharged into a local creek and while that happens (along with much worse things like condoms and tampons), overflows are usually extremely diluted bc they only occur during extreme wet weather events. So it's during a big spring rain event that occurs when there's still 12" of snow on the ground and snow piles like mountains all around a city. The rain melts the snowpack, causing flows comparable to what we'd see in a 100 yr storm - but it's only an inch or two of rain that caused it. The discharged flow is heavily diluted and it typically flows into waterways that are at flood stage. It's still a major problem but it's nothing like what the Chicago river saw ~150 yrs ago. Why don't we fix it? Well, we are. Or at least we're trying. We could spend a billion dollars in my smallish upstate NY hometown (Syr, Rochester, Albany, Buffalo - could be any of them), and still not fix it 100%. Sewers are under streets which are expensive to rip up and replace. And when you do that, you need more capacity at the plant. Most cities have had upgraded plants at some point between 1990's and 2030 (i.e., those in the works now). These are enormous projects that cost 10's of millions. For a medium size city like I've mentioned. Somewhere like NYC, where there's even more pavement and much more flow, far more people obviously, and construction costs 3x to 5x as much - good luck. So i've felt very defeated in my life's work. We're nothing but little dutch boys with fingers in dikes, running out of fingers. However, this video is encouraging. It reminds me that we've already done countless projects of this scale. Chicago alone has done a few. Raised itself, rebuilt itself after burning down, then reversed the river. That canal is impressive no doubt, but the Erie canal was built almost a century earlier and covers a few hundred miles. Without the aid of steam anything, while the nation was barely out of its infancy. We've built thousands of bridges and millions of miles of roads, and just as much sewers and water lines. If we could build all that way back then (while concurrently building our cities and other little ditties like the Panama canal) I daresay we can modernize our sewers. While pondering our potential to address climate change a few years ago, I came to the conclusion that there is virtually no problem on Earth that America cannot solve with a trillion dollars of effort. Make an atomic bomb in just a few years; put a human being on the frickin' moon, and return it to Earth still living and do so within a decade, etc. Our infrastructure problems can be largely solved if we spent a trillion dollars over a period of a decade. Climate change, unfortunately, will require a few such projects. Luckily our GDP is like 25 trillion a year (and growing, always growing). We just need to spend it on the right things. I hope, for my daughter's sake, that we do.

So basically Chicago cared for Chicago and nobody else. It was just a matter where would they dump their waste... So instead having the lake backfiring at them, they send it to st Louis. And as they say in the end of the documentary, they are worried that re-reversing the river, will bring back the waste that has accumulated at the bottom of the drainage canal. Well since all that waste came from Chicago in the first place, I say it is fair to be returned to its original owners! And if the people of Chicago are so worried about the environment, then maybe they can construct more and better waste treatment facilities!

Diverting the flow and polluting the Mighty Mississip, the Old Man, Big River

The climate is naturally getting warmer and has been for about 150 years. History of these climate swings show it will peak over the next 50 years and drop back to mid C19 levels by mid 2300s.

Probably 15 minutes of useful information in this doc.

You'd never find a board of trustees these days doing labor like that!

And only possible to achieve on a level earth

They should have bought up the unusable farms. Those people didn’t deserve that

A large number of the commenters have negative views of this thing, but UKposts indicates 4.7k likes and 0 dislikes. What's up with that?

This happened all across the US, send the problem somewhere else, let them deal with it..