The long-term approach to achieving protection is “ecological separation.” A true ecological separation is defined as no inter-basin transfer of aquatic organisms via the Chicago Waterway System at any time – 100% effectiveness. Ecological separation prohibits the movement or interbasin transfer of aquatic organisms between the Mississippi and Great Lakes basins via the CWS. Once established, the impacts of invasive species on ecosystem health are permanent and irreversible. Preventing the transfer and introduction of invasive species between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins is the only long-term solution that will eliminate the risk of irreversible ecosystem damage. The CWS is a highly engineered and complex combination of. | GREAT LAKES FISHERY COMMISSION 2008 Project Completion Report1 PRELIMINARY FEASIBILITY OF ECOLOGICAL SEPARATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND THE GREAT LAKES TO PREVENT THE TRANSFER OF AQUATIC INVASIVE SPECIES by Joel Brammeier2 Irwin Polls3 Scudder Mackey4 November 2008 1 Project completion reports of Commission-sponsored research are made available to the Commission s Cooperators in the interest of rapid dissemination of information that may be useful in Great Lakes fishery management research or administration. The reader should be aware that project completion reports have not been through a peer-review process and that sponsorship of the project by the Commission does not necessarily imply that the findings or conclusions are endorsed by the Commission. Do not cite findings without permission of the author. 2 Alliance for the Great Lakes 17 N. State Street Chicago IL 60602 3 Ecological Monitoring and Assessment 3206 Mapleleaf Drive Glenview IL 60026 4 Habitat Solutions 37045 N. Ganster Road Beach Park IL 60087 Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Executive Summary ii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Chicago Area Waterway System Summary 3 Study Area 3 History 7 Uses 12 Ownership 12 Physical Habitat 13 Hydrology 17 Water Quality 30 Biological Communities 40 Navigation 50 Chapter 2 Stakeholder Input 62 Chapter 3 Separation Technologies 74 Chapter 4 Separation Scenarios 83 Chapter 5 Implementation 93 Chapter 6 Recommendations 98 Literature Cited 101 i Acknowledgements The team is indebted to many people who provided hydrology physical habitat water quality benthic invertebrate and fish data for this report James Casey Sam Dennison Jim Dunker Dan Injerd Dale McDonald Sergio Serafino Mike Sopcak Tzuoh-Ying Su and Jennifer Wasik. We are extremely grateful to Dick Lanyon for informal discussions on the Chicago and Calumet Waterways. Special thanks to Rich Anderson Susanne Davis Steve Davis Alex DaSilva and Scott Morlock for helping the team understand the direction of flow in
