Just Walk Away, Chicago. You Don't Own the Great Lakes.

There are EIGHT Great Lakes states...states that border the Great Lakes. Attorneys general from SIX of the EIGHT Great Lakes states are calling for a separation between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes watersheds. Why?

Why?

WHY?!?!

Because it's not supposed to BE THERE and it's a massive, accelerative vector for NASTY, vile, putrid, hateful, disgusting, evil, backstabbing, filthy invasive species between the two water bodies. THAT'S WHY.

The only reason the GREAT LAKES water shed and the MISSISSIPPI water shed are connected is because a certain city which shall remain nameless (rhymes with CHICAGO) reversed the Chicago river in what was considered A HUNDRED AND TEN YEARS AGO to be a brilliant way to manage the cities waste. A HUNDRED AND TEN YEARS AGO it was considered an engineering marvel. ONE HUNDRED and TEN YEARS ago.

How cities like Detroit, Buffalo, Toledo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Erie, and Windsor and EVERY OTHER major city along the Great Lakes has been managing to dispose of its waste without reversing he forces of nature and connecting two water sheds that had been separated for ten thousand years is a bit of a mystery. But somehow they manage.

And now, with Asian Carps knocking at the door of the Great Lakes from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, SIX of the EIGHT Great Lakes states are demanding a renewed separation between the Great Lakes and Mississippi water sheds.

Great Lakes States: Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Illinois
Great Lakes States that want to separate the water sheds: Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York

Illinois and Indiana are the only states that DO NOT want to separate the water sheds.

For some perspective on Pro vs. Con among Great Lakes states, see below where the RED part is the Great Lakes states that want to maintain the status quo. EVERYTHING ELSE represents states that want to shut down the connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi water shed.



Chicago, you KNOW I love you, but you're being an asshole. You don't own the Great Lakes. If this were a democracy, you'd be horribly, miserably outvoted by number of states, coast line mileage, hell even POPULATION.

Just close the freakin' locks. It's time for your hundred and ten year old "engineering marvel" to come to an end and separate the Mississippi and Great Lakes water sheds again, like they've been for 99% of the past hundred centuries. We can't let invasive species continue to have free reign of two of the largest United States fresh water systems. Just let it go.