Brief Overview

About the Chicago District

    The Chicago District is responsible for water resources development in the Chicago metropolitan area, a unique urban area of about 5,000 square miles with a population of about 8 million.
    In 1833, the Army engineers began constructing a harbor at the mouth of the Chicago River.  The city soon became an important shipping center and Chicago’s growth was off and running.
    From 1844 to 1915, the Corps of Engineers constructed harbors and harbor improvements along the Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin shorelines and in the 1930s completed the Illinois Waterway, linking Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River.
    From the 1940s through the 1970s, the district was involved in a variety of military and civil construction projects including Nike missile bases, the military facility at O’Hare, widening the Cal-Sag navigation channel and constructing Burns Harbor.
    In the 1980s the district’s support for others grew to include providing construction assistance to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wastewater treatment Construction Grants Program and the environmental cleanup ‘Superfund.’
    The district in the 1990s developed an enhanced environmental program, began several major flood prevention projects in Illinois and Northwest Indiana and participated in numerous flood relief and damage assessment efforts.  The district also directed the emergency relief effort for the Great Chicago Tunnel Flood, caused by a breach in the floor of the Chicago River.  The city’s underground tunnel network flooded, sending river water into subway tunnels, basements and sub-basements in the Loop, Chicago’s downtown business district.

     Today, the Chicago District is at work on a diverse range of projects ranging from protecting the Chicago shoreline from erosion to restoring ecosystems along area waterways. From storm and flood damage reduction to maintaining safe navigation, the Chicago District is committed to providing quality, cost effective and environmentally sustainable planning, engineering and construction products and services.

Mission Areas

    The district is involved in a variety of projects stemming from its primary mission areas of Flood Control, Shoreline Protection, Navigation, Environmental Protection, Emergency Management and Support for Others.

Flood Control

    Combined sewers carrying both stormwater and raw sewage serve Chicago and 51 neighboring communities, an area of 375 square miles.  Due to the highly developed urban nature of the area, stormwater runoff frequently exceeds sewer capacity, backing up into basements and sending overflow into area waterways.  To combat this hazardous flooding, the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan was developed to collect and hold the flow from the combined sewers until it can be safely released into the sewer system. The Corps is responsible for constructing the reservoir portion of the plan.  The district completed construction of the 350-million gallon O’Hare Reservoir in 1998. The district began construction of the 5 billion-gallon McCook Reservoir in 2000.
    Another major project is the Little Calumet River Flood Control and Recreation Project, currently under construction. The project involves constructing levees and floodwalls, enhancing wetlands and creating recreation areas along 22 miles of the Little Calumet River in Northwest Indiana.
    The district has several major flood control studies underway-- such as the Des Plaines River Flood Damage Reduction Study that will examine alternatives for reducing flooding in 33 municipalities along 67 miles of the Des Plaines River in Illinois.

Navigation

    The Chicago District maintains seven harbors on Lake Michigan -- Waukegan, Chicago, and Calumet Harbors in Illinois; and Burns International, Burns Small Boat, Michigan City and Indiana harbors in Indiana.  Additionally, the district operates the Chicago Lock, one of the busiest in the nation, locking through nearly 63,000 vessels and over 900,000 passengers annually.
       Lack of a suitable disposal site for the approximately one million cubic yards of contaminated sediments at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, has prevented dredging since 1972.  A plan developed jointly by the Chicago District and U.S. EPA Region 5 calls for the construction of a disposal facility on an active RCRA site in East Chicago, Ind.
    The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal forms a unique, man-made link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.  The canal also provides aquatic nuisance species, such as the Asian Carp access between the two water basins.  To research methods of deterring aquatic nuisance species from entering the Mississippi River, the Chicago District constructed an electric barrier demonstration project in 2001 and is currently constructing a permanent barrier.

Shoreline Protection

    One of Chicago’s most unique attributes is its 30 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, nearly all of which is publicly owned. The existing shore protection structures, built in the early 1900s, are no longer structurally functioning.  Without intervention, about 11 miles of structures would have failed.  The Chicago Shoreline Project involves reconstructing revetments to prevent storm damage to a $5 billion infrastructure.  Between the Chicago District and the local sponsors, the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District, construction of several portions of the shoreline have already been completed, including reconstruction of a breakwater protecting a water purification plant serving 2.5 million people. 
   Several smaller erosion protection and/or ecosystem restoration projects throughout the Chicago and Northwest Indiana area are also underway.