Chicago Celebrates Its River’s Rebirth From a Sewer

CHICAGO — City businesses opened a four-day festival Wednesday to celebrate the Chicago River’s rebirth from a sewage dump so foul that its flow had to be reversed away from Lake Michigan.

Today, except when a heavy storm might force some untreated sewage into the canal, the waterway is relatively clean, said Sam Dennison, a biologist with the Metropolitan Sanitary District.

The celebration, complete with a parade and symphony concert, highlights development along the riverfront and the revitalization of the waterway, said Robert Quakenbush, a spokesman for the Chicago River Festival.

“We hope to . . . really underscore the potential of the Chicago riverfront as a cultural and economic resource for the city of Chicago,” said Quakenbush, adding that he would like to see the festival become an annual event.

“It almost always makes a pretty picture, looking down, seeing . . . all the skyscrapers, when the bridges go up in the air and the sailboats go through,” he said.

Downtown traffic in the nation’s third-largest city can grind to a halt when one of the more than two dozen bridges in the business district are raised to let boats pass.

The river is at its most colorful on St. Patrick’s Day, when city officials, following a tradition begun by the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, dye the water green.

Lake Contaminated

The less-than-sparkling history of the river dates to the 1800s, when raw sewage pouring into the river was blamed for contaminating Lake Michigan, which fed the city’s faucets.

Lake Michigan now flows into the river near the downtown Loop, while, just south of the Loop, the river flows into a 28-mile canal to the Des Plaines River at Lockport, southwest of the city. From there it goes into the Illinois and Mississippi rivers and finally to the Gulf of Mexico.

The canal was approved by voters in 1889 and was completed at the turn of the century. By 1908, Chicago had one of the lowest typhoid death rates in the world.

The operation to send sewage south was designated in 1955 as one of seven engineering wonders of the United States by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Treated sewage still is flushed into parts of the river, but not the section that flows through most of downtown, Dennison said.

The canal is not recommended for general use by the public, such as swimming, he said. But an increasing number of fish species shows the cleanup has paid off.

While most of the fish are carp and goldfish, a total of 27 species turned up in a spring survey, Dennison said, including a few game fish like trout, salmon and bass.

The festival began Wednesday with a boat parade and a riverside concert by the 50-piece City Symphony of Chicago on the top deck of the tourist cruiser Fort Dearborn.

Events through Saturday include a ballet, a rhythm and blues concert, rowing races, a “Venetian Masked Ball” and a fireworks display, organizers said.

The event also is tied to the city’s 150th birthday celebration.