Technology Connections

As we in Chicago repeat our silly tradition of dyeing the river green for St. Patrick's Day, I think it's a good time to remind people that our ancestors *reversed the flow of the river* to keep Lake Michigan, our source of drinking water, clean and safe.

And earlier, in the 1860's, the central core of the city and all of its buildings were *lifted by several feet* to allow for the installation of sewer systems which improved drainage and public health.

Remember that the next time someone says heat pumps and electrification are hard.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River#Reversing_the_…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago

(edited b/c the buildings were lifted differing amounts)

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 9,589



@animationcreations42

They reversed the river, they just need to reverse the AC

1 year ago | 1,600  

@sonorioftrill

You also recently electrified said river to keep the carp from breaching into the lake. Not nearly as big a project as the other two, but the giant fish taser is probably my favorite piece of Chicago infrastructure outside of the loop itself.

1 year ago | 744

@Madwonk

Heck, even the initial funding for the interstate highway system cost several times that of the latest infrastructure bill. We used to do big hard things but not anymore apparently!

1 year ago | 604  

@DanielBrotherston

"We can't" is often code for "I don't want to change".

1 year ago | 25

@AFNacapella

I love the "we can't just..." argument when the simple answer is "of course we just can" if it's local megaprojects like this or global ones like the leaded fuel ban, asbestos, ozon hole... we can just ban stuff and either force or incentivise change in industries.

1 year ago | 134

@jsj0520

As a Michigander I didn’t even know about that highly electrified river until a year ago. Honestly an amazing way to keep invasive species out

1 year ago | 25

@Tsuruchi_420

Remember that when people say any infrastructure is too hard/costly

1 year ago | 24

@Galantium

In classic Chicago fashion now it's St.Louis' problem!

1 year ago | 111

@CTRLALTGeek

You might as well REVERSE your heat pump to cool your home.

1 year ago | 209  

@MustachioFurioso9134

I also love that in doing so, they sort of polluted the river downstream...to St Louis... LMFAO... STL sued and won, but Chicago was like "nah, it's too hard to re-reverse it" so they just kept it as is.

1 year ago | 76

@TheBondsJamesBonds

This has big “What If?” By Randall Munroe energy and I for one am here for it.

1 year ago | 2

@misterno-ice-guy8082

Helping my mom clean my late gramdna's house, I ran across a peculiar set of tools in a pouch: a cork screw, a couple drill bits, a saw blade, screwdriver blade... all with the same grooves to fit the missing handle. I learned that they were used to rebuild Chicago after the fire by my great great granpa (maybe 3 greats)

1 year ago | 5

@bob_._.

What's most amazing about dying the river is that it still makes the local news every year.

1 year ago | 7

@liamtahaney713

Or that we cant have good transit in America...I don't understand why 21st century attitudes are so unambitious when it comes to infrastructure

1 year ago | 49  

@GenericSweetener

Eh, that sounds like a lot of work and I really don’t mind drinking sewage. Plus, the river has been flowing that way for a while, and if something isn’t the way I remember it being when I was younger I’ll get scared and angry

1 year ago | 91

@HendersonWellmanAgency

As a citizen of the City of St. Louis, I’ve definitely heard this story…

1 year ago | 11

@KartKing4ever

Imagine being a fish, waking up and everything is green.

1 year ago | 10

@jtd8719

There's also a hugely bigly huge underground system for intercepting stormwater to prevent dumping raw sewage into the rivers. I worked on CUP McCook - located between the river and the canal - one summer about 20 years ago.

1 year ago | 7

@blckwtrpark3352

As someone from Milwaukee we did our part through most of the nineties to dump enough waste into the lake to counteract that. (God i wish i was joking)

1 year ago | 13

@XIIchiron78

It's weird, isn't it? Hearing about stuff they did in the past, and then in the next breath, hearing about how it's too hard or too expensive or too much trouble to do something that's a complete no brainer today. There's this pervasive air of cynicism infecting every level of society. It's suffocating.

1 year ago | 30