Reversing The Flow of Sewage in Chicago

Can a newly elected mayor in Chicago reverse the flow of sewage in the city and truly clean up city government? Political corruption has been a real-life Monopoly game played in Chicago since the city was incorporated on March 4, 1837 with connected politicians and their cronies trading land, labor, capital and contracts for their own benefit. Even though this type of autocratic government management costs the citizens through bloated taxes, in the end, somehow by smoke and mirrors, it works.


In 1900, the problem of sewage entering Lake Michigan was resolved by the Sanitary District of Chicago when it reversed flow of the Chicago River to carry our city’s effluent downstream to the Mississippi. Now Mayor Richard Daley has been talking about re-reversing the flow, to protect the river from unwanted invasive species of fish.


Because the city does not disinfect the human waste flowing into its main sewage treatment plants and instead relies on nature to clean the bad stuff out as it flows down to the Gulf of Mexico, a river redirection would require improvements in the city’s sewage treatment system. It would also lead to…requiring —surprise! — a huge public works project to re-create the barrier that was destroyed more than a century ago. Building anything means spending money and lots of contracts—hopefully not bloated under a new administration.


The reversal of the Chicago River has been called one of the greatest engineering feats of the last century, but it might lose that munificent title if a new mayor engineers a culture of honesty in City Hall. The Chicago River could be dyed white to symbolize purity on St. Patrick’s Day and not green the color of money


Few people remember that what caused the late Alderman Paddy Bauler to utter the infamous line, “Chicago ain’t ready for reform,” was his reference to Richard J. Daley defeating then Mayor Martin Kennelly in the 1955 Chicago mayoral election, the victory that started the Daley dynasty.


The quote is referred to every Chicago election cycle as political columnist after political columnist speculates that maybe this time an honest candidate will win. The pundits have been wrong for the past 55 years; will 2011 be different?


Don’t throw your vote down the toilet on February 22 by voting for another machine politician; reverse the flow of sewage into Chicago with a reformer.