The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a 28-mile-long (45 km) canal system that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River. It reverses the direction of the Main Stem and the South Branch of the Chicago River, which now flows out of Lake Michigan rather than into it. The firm control of water levels and employing engineering techniques were later used in building the Panama Canal. The canal contains the Lockport Powerhouse, a run-of-the-river dam used by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to control the outflow of the Sanitary and Ship Canal, and the gates of the controlling works, which separate the Des Plaines River and the canal.[1]
Coverage[]
Outbreak[]
In Outbreak, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is featured starting in 1 day after people when no one to manage the Chicago River, one of the most heavily engineered waterways in the world.
In 3 days after people, a rainstorm hits Chicago and the Chicago River should have flow into Lake Michigan but in the time of humans, man turned on nature in 1900 when the river-flow was reversed to prevent pollution to Lake Michigan, leaving man in firm control of water levels and employing engineering techniques, creating the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, where it then later used in building the Panama Canal. River engineers managed the canal locks and sluice gates to divert water from the lake. 3 days after people, the river starts to overflow. Richard Lanyon stated that the Chicago River would fill up gradually and flood areas in downtown Chicago and the basements of the buildings along the river.
Water surging through the gates of Lockport.
The high river level then surge through south along the canals towards the gates of the Lockport controlling works, where the 109 year old complex controls the drainage of the Chicago River. Richard Lanyon stated that the cascade of water dropping on the downstream side would erode the piers holding the gates. The gates that control the drainage of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal from the Chicago River collapse. Richard Lanyon stated that 10 to 20 billion gallons of water where behind the gates and when the structure collapse, it will send a torrent down the Des Plaines river to the city of Joliet where it would overtop the river walls and flood the city. As the failure of the controlling works from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal continues the surge of water, the entire towns in America's Midwest such as Joliet where then wiped out by raging water.
Waves of Devastation[]
In Waves of Devastation, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is a setting for the Asian carp in 2 days after people where the Asian Carp is making their way into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal which leads to Lake Michigan. When man feared that if the carp made it into the Great Lakes, it would kill off the desirable fish by devouring the food supply, and so in the time of humans, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is created as the last stand against the Asian carp, where a series of virtual fences built by the Army Corp of Engineers creates an electric current in the water.
However in one week after people, the emergency generators that kept the electric barriers buzzing have shut down by consuming the last drop of fuel, allowing the Asian carp to enter the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal safely and into the Chicago River. They are stopped entering the Great Lakes by the Chicago Harbor Lock, but it eventually fails at the seals in a few years.
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