Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 14, Number 4 • Fall 2006
Carp Barrier: Keeping Invaders at Bay
By Joel Brammeier, Alliance for the Great Lakes
The electrical Asian carp barriers in
the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
were a hot topic at the September, 2006
Healing Our Waters (HOW) coalition
conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Listed as a
top priority for full federal funding during
fiscal year 2007, the permanent
Barrier Two today sits half-constructed
and unable to operate.
The experimental
Barrier One has slid
past its design life
of 3 years and has 3
failing electrodes.
For now, the protection
of the Great
Lakes depends on
this barrier, and
U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE)
has assured the
region that it will
not go down on
their watch.
What happened? A
scant two years
ago the Illinois
DNR was diligently
gathering funds
from around the
basin to pay the
states’ share of
Barrier II cost while the USACE found
dollars to put toward project
completion.
Unfortunately, safety concerns have
intruded. Potential electrical sparking
between barges that are tied together
has always been a concern on this
commercial waterway. Experts believed
that this problem could be eliminated
through appropriate management
practices, such as avoiding barge fleeting
above the barrier site.
But another problem reared its head.
Not long after phase one of Barrier Two
was completed and tested, it became
obvious that electrical current was
spilling downstream beyond the limits
initially claimed by project designers.
The current extends to a dock where coal
barges offload, making the risk of
sparking too great to allow Barrier Two
to begin operating.
Design and installation
of enhanced
safety measures is
now chewing
through the original
Barrier Two
budget. USACE
needs additional
authorizations and
appropriat i o n s
during fiscal year
2007 to complete
Barrier Two and
take over full operation,
maintenance
and upgrade
responsibilities for
both barriers.
Language supporting
these needs
can be found in the
Water Resources
Development Act
of 2006. Citizens around the region will
be looking anxiously to their elected
officials to take the next step in
protecting the Great Lakes from
invasive species.
For more information about invasive
species and the Chicago Waterway System:
Joel Brammeier,
Alliance for the Great Lakes
PH: 312-939-0838 x 224
E-mail: jbrammeier@greatlakes.org
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