Carp species are found to live successfully in the Great Lakes, but at what price?

Blocking Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes could require an engineering marvel that rivals the reversal of the Chicago River more than a century ago, according to a new federal study that promises to reignite a fierce debate about the region's waterways.

Among the options outlined Monday by the Army Corps of Engineers to thwart the voracious fish and other invasive species from spreading is permanently separating Lake Michigan from the river and its connected waterways. Such a project would restore the once natural divide between the Great Lakes and rivers southwest of Chicago that drain into the Mississippi River.

Chicago blasted through that hydrological barrier when it dug the Sanitary and Ship Canal and Cal-Sag Channel at the turn of the last century to divert the region's sewage away from its source of drinking water. It also created a shipping link between two of the nation's major trade routes.

Separating the lake and the river again could cost more than $18 billion and take up to 25 years, the Corps' study concluded, making that option the most expensive of the eight studied. Another option, carrying a $15 billion price tag, would allow portions of the Chicago River, Sanitary and Ship Canal and Calumet River to flow into Lake Michigan.

Reflecting the development of Chicago from a swampy prairie outpost to a sprawling city, both of those options would require a multibillion investment in giant stormwater tunnels and massive flood-control reservoirs, according to the study.

Several political leaders said the potential cost and time frame could scuttle the plan before Congress considers it.

"I've seen too many of these long-term Corps projects languish for years and fall victim to congressional inaction," said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat and assistant Senate majority leader. "We can't gamble with the threat of Asian carp ... or risk severe flood damage to the Chicago metropolitan area by pursuing a risky plan at the expense of our current efforts."

A lobbyist for one of the industries that still relies on the river system was even more blunt. The study "clearly indicates that physical separation is too expensive, too slow and too uncertain to be a viable solution to the spread of invasive species," said Mark Biel, executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois.

Two years in the making, the study comes amid a series of alarming findings that raise the possibility it might be too late for new federal action to stop Asian carp from getting into the Great Lakes and threatening the region's $7 billion fishing industry.

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Engineering marvel may be needed to stop Asian carp

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