Project: Aquatic Nuisance Species Dispersal Barrier

Authorization: National Invasive Species Act 1996 (NISA)

Type: Demonstration study

Project Description: The Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal forms a unique, man-made link between the Great Lakes drainage basin and the Mississippi River drainage basin. Today, this vital navigation corridor also provides aquatic nuisance species access between these two basins. Aquatic nuisance species are moving towards the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River and vice versa. These species are threatening the stability of our native ecosystems and economy in the Mid-west. As well as preying on our native species, non-indigenous species compete for food, living space, and spawning areas. Physical features such as protective spines make non-native fish and zooplankton unpalatable as forage and small adult size of these invading fish restricts their economic value for sport and commercial fishing. An aquatic nuisance species barrier is required to help restrict the unbridled spread of these invasive species.

Authorization and Executive Order: The National Invasive Species Act of 1996 authorized $750,000 for the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out a demonstration study of an aquatic nuisance species barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. This year, on February 3, President Clinton signed an executive order declaring war on invasive species. The order directs all federal agencies to coordinate their efforts to this end. An Invasive Species Council will be created in order to develop a plan to minimize the economic, ecological, and human impacts of invasive species and to determine steps to prevent their introduction and spread. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, and Commerce Secretary William Daley will co-chair the Invasive Species Council which consists of state, tribal, scientific, university, and environmental groups, farm organizations, shipping industry, and the business community. The proposed $29 million budget for fiscal year 2000 would support efforts to combat invasive species. This would include projects like the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal Dispersal Barrier, as well as projects preventing the spread and removal of species like the Asian long-horned beetles, brown tree snakes in Guam, and invasive noxious weeds, research on habitat restoration and biologically-based integrated pest management tactics.

History: Originally, the Chicago River flowed into Lake Michigan. Joliet and other explorers recognized the potential for tying the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River to create a transportation corridor for freight and settlers. The Illinois-Michigan Canal, completed in 1858, was the first step towards this end. The canal connected Lake Michigan with the Illinois River at LaSalle-Peru and reversed the flow of the Chicago River. The canal was operated by pumping water from the South Branch of the Chicago River up 15 feet to the "headwaters" of the canal at a site on the South Branch of the Chicago River. In 1910 the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal was opened. This larger, deeper canal allowed the flow to be gravity fed alleviating the need for pumping.

The Chicago waterway is now comprised of several interconnecting rivers. The Calumet River (flow was also reversed) which fed by the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet rivers, connects to the Calumet Sag Channel that flows into the Sanitary & Ship Canal. The North Shore Channel conveys water from Lake Michigan at Wilmette to the North Branch of the Chicago River to help maintain water quality. All water from these sources passes through a single narrow reach between Lemont and Romeoville, Illinois. In this seven-mile reach the canal has been cut through the native limestone and is only about 165 feet wide. Due to the narrow width of the canal, the barges run along the wall.

Boat Traffic and Storm water: The canal is a very important transportation corridor for freight and recreational vessels. The Lock at Chicago Harbor is the Nation’s busiest, passing over 50,000 vessels annually. At Chicago Lock the bulk of the traffic is recreational vessels, but farther downstream the majority of the traffic consists of commercial barge tows. The Sanitary and Ship Canal conveys Chicago’s storm and treated wastewater away from Lake Michigan, the source of Chicago’s drinking water. Thus it is important that the dispersal barrier not interfere with navigation traffic or water flow.

Target Species: There are several species with the potential to spread between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, a few of them are listed below. . For more information on exotic species, log onto the Aquatic Nuisance Species Home Page and the Great Lakes Commission Project Page. One species of immediate concern is the round goby, first found in Calumet harbor in 1993. Its native range is the Black and Caspian Seas of Eastern Europe. Like other European invaders, the round goby was introduced as a result of ballast water release. By 1997 the round goby had spread to river mile 321 in the Calumet Sag Channel and by 1998 had moved an additional 2.4 miles down stream to river mile 318.6. As of June 15, 1998 the gobies were 16 miles from the proposed barrier reach. Since 1997 the USFWS has conducted an annual survey to monitor the distribution of the round goby in the Chicago canal system. In 1999 the survey will take place in June to monitor any further movement downstream in the Calumet Sag Channel and Chicago River. Pam Thiel of the USFWS has coordinated this effort, for additional information she may be contacted at her -email address

Table 2. Some invasive species in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.

A multi-agency advisory panel was formed to help identify effective and acceptable approaches to an aquatic nuisance species dispersal barrier for the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Panel members represent federal, state, municipal, and regional entities as well as commercial, academic and environmental interests.

Barrier Concept and Considered Approaches: The Panel members considered a wide array of possible approaches to create an aquatic nuisance species barrier; these are listed below. Conceptually, the Panel recommended a fail-safe approach using a redundant system of two barriers. A two-barrier system would be placed in the Lemont to Romeoville reach of the canal some distance apart. The barriers would have to combine several methods to target multiple species. The area between the barriers would provide a sampling and monitoring zone. The Panel members ranked the approaches according to anticipated effectiveness, implementability and cost. Screens and weirs were ruled out due to interference with barge traffic and water flow. The Panel recommended that chemicals, though considered effective, be used as a stopgap measure only. An electric barrier was recommended as the first approach because the technology is commercially available and the method would be effective against fish. Other approaches require additional research and or development and will be added to the barrier, as they become commercially available.

Barrier Site: The proposed barrier reach is located between river miles 295 and 303 on the Sanitary & Ship Canal, roughly between Romeoville and Lemont, Illinois. Land use along the canal is largely industrial, with a county forest preserve at the upstream end. The canal in this reach is 165 feet wide and 25 feet deep with nearly perpendicular walls of native limestone (figure?).

Research: Laboratory and field research on the electric barrier to identify the most effective field strength and pulse frequency to repel round goby is currently being carried out by Jaci Savino at the US Geological Survey – Biological Resources Division Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Dave Jude at the University of Michigan. Other barrier methods area being examined at the Mississippi River Science Center in LaCrosse Wisconsin and at the Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Barrier Description: The electric barrier is intended to repulse the fish, not kill or stun them. Electrodes will be mounted on the floor and recessed into the walls of the canal. The first part of the barrier development will target the round goby, a bottom dwelling fish. The effect of the field will extend approximately 6 feet from the electrodes, up from the bottom and out from the sides of the canal. The area of the barrier’s electric field will encompass ~1155 square feet from bank to bank about 1/3 the way up the water column. Visible project features will include a fenced compound on one side of the canal that will enclose an equipment shed and back-up generator. There will be a small fenced area on the opposite side of the canal where the apparatus will extend above the water surface.

 

 

 

 

Barrier Dimensions (Not to scale)

Future: Sites for second barrier

Supplement the barrier with other aids (infrasound acoustic array)

Target species within the water column

Current Status: Construction of the barrier to target the round goby will begin in 1999. Panel meeting is scheduled for April 1999.

Contributors: Army Corps $500,000 in 1998; $300,000 in 1999.

USEPA - $250,000 for barrier research

Great Lakes Protection Fund - $71,000 for monitoring

Illinois International Port Commission - $75,000 for construction

Project Manager: Dave Handwerk

 

The POC for this page: Frank Veraldi., CELRC-PD-S telephone # 312-353-6400 ext. 2017 Chicago, Illinois Email -Frank M. Veraldi Page updated: September 7,1999