Not to scare anyone but…
From Today’s Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-web_deeptunnelaug24,0,6521700.story
Rain forces water district to open locks, sending sewage into lake By Michael Hawthorne | Tribune staff reporter 7:49 PM CDT, August 23, 2007 Article tools E-mail Share this Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Furl Google Reddit Spurl Yahoo Print Single page view Reprints Text size:
The deluge of rain today forced the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to open locks on the North Shore Channel in Wilmette, allowing millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage to flow into Lake Michigan.
It marked the first time since August 2002 that the district has opened the locks because of rising water levels in parts of the Chicago River. The river was reversed in the early 1900s to keep sewage out of the region’s supply of drinking water, but for decades the district frequently had to allow the river to flow back out into the lake after heavy storms.
Construction of the Deep Tunnel project, a network of tunnels and reservoirs that capture and store the first flush of storm water, has significantly reduced the need to open the locks. But extended downpours still can fill up the massive system and force sewage into the lake.
“We’ve had storms every day since Monday and haven’t had time to recover,” said Richard Lanyon, the district’s general superintendent. He was unsure tonight how long the locks would stay open.
I’m guessing it is unlikely the swim will be cancelled. Wilmette, IL is 17 miles north of where we are swimming. When I lifeguarded California we would close the beach for a couple of miles from major rivermouths following heavy rainfall, but further away that that was not an issue. 17 miles due north is a pretty good distance to have any measurable impact. Also, it appears most of the storms have been coming from the southwest. I would assume the wind is blowing out of the direction as well, so that is probably the direction of any current in the lake, causing the sewage, debris, etc to drift up north and away.
Of course I say this really, really, really, really hoping we swim.
Normally the current flows from North to South at Ohio St. beach. But you are correct that the winds have been blowing from the South for most of the week.
I don’t really know what the current does at Monroe harbor.
That doesn’t change the fact the opening is 17 miles north of the swim. If the opening was the Chicago River which runs right through the city, just north of where we are swimming, then we would be in trouble, but the flooding is inland, and the point of relief for the river is way north, so I think we will be OK.
The fuel from the boats in the harbor will help in killing bacteria in the water. For our sake, lets hope it works, is everyone current on immunizations? LOL.
Monroe Harbor is between Ohio St. and 12th St. beach. The Park District checks the water every day, any impact from opening up the locks would first show up Saturday as they take samples today (Friday) and post results tomorrow (Saturday).
I don’t want to sound like a cynic, but I can’t foresee there being any chance that the Chicago Park District would “let” the bacteria levels be high enough to cancel the swim.
The Chicago Trathlon is a big event, and big events find a way of going off as planned in Chicago.
So - try not to drink the water, Vaseline over any open wounds/cuts/scrapes and you should be OK.
The exact same thing happened about 3 or 4 years ago, the Super Sprint on Saturday was turned to a Duathlon because it starts on a beach and is subject to swimming rules of the park district.
The Olympic and Sprint races on Sunday are in Monroe harbor where swimming is not allowed the rest of the year, and is not a beach, so it is not subject to the same rules as the beaches are. They’ll have the swim unless waves are throwing people out of the water.
I just read elsewhere that this happened a few years ago and the race officials were running all around transition making athletes sign waivers re: the water quality.
“So - try not to drink the water, Vaseline over any open wounds/cuts/scrapes and you should be OK.”
I think they should start serving beer earlier since alcohol is reputed to have both medicinal and disinfection qualities. I plan on playing it safe and having 2-3 doses as soon as the beer tent opens.
I don’t remember them making me sign anything else other than the typical swim waiver stating that you could actually swim a mile.
I do remember them having signs saying that the park district had closed several beaches because of high levels of bacteria, and that as of the time of registration, the day before the race, the harbor was within “safe” levels for normal people. But they did caution that there was a chance of getting sick.
I’m sure one of the reasons they moved the swim from Ohio St. Beach to Monroe harbor is to get around the park district closing the beaches at the last minute.
I’ve been swimming in the lake for a long time and never gotten sick from it. I’ve gotten sick by my ability to swim, but that’s another problem.
