MPC's Josh Ellis recently paddled a kayak down the Chicago River with NPR reporter David Schaper to explain the origins of the river's reversal, and the complications of re-reversing the river.
As Josh explained to David, when our forefathers reversed the flow of the Chicago and Calumet Rivers, they didn’t just change the river. They changed the entire region. Today, the river is part economic engine, part transportation route, part sewer system, part recreational facility — part river. While we have the power to change this built system, as the NPR story explains, it's more complicated than most think.
Listen to the NPR story "Change to River's Flow Considered to Stop Carp," and let us know what you think about re-reversal, an idea that's gaining local, regional and national attention.