The climate crisis haunts Chicago's future. A Battle Between a Great City and a Great Lake

[Buckeye_Democrat]

Last edited Fri Jul 9, 2021, 01:57 AM - Edit history (1)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/07/climate/chicago-river-lake-michigan.html
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... But the same waters that gave life to the city threaten it today, because Chicago is built on a shaky prospect — the idea that the swamp that was drained will stay tamed and that Lake Michigan’s shoreline will remain in essentially the same place it’s been for the past 300 years.

The lake may have other plans.

Climate change has started pushing Lake Michigan’s water levels toward uncharted territory as patterns of rain, snowfall and evaporation are transformed by the warming world. The lake’s high-water cycles are threatening to get higher; the lows lower. Already, the swings between the two show signs of happening faster than any time in recorded history.

A series of ferocious storms in recent years has made it clear that the threat this poses to a metro area of 9.5 million people is not abstract.

“There are buildings just teetering on the edge of the lake. A few years ago, they had a beach. Now the water is lapping at their foundations,” Josh Ellis, a former vice president of Chicago’s 87-year-old, nonprofit Metropolitan Planning Council, said this year. “This is an existential problem for those neighborhoods and, ultimately, for the city.”
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The surface area of the Great Lakes is 94,250 square-miles. The volume of a gallon of water is 231 cubic-inches.

Doing a little math, that means each additional inch of Great Lakes water depth creates more than an additional 1.6 trillion gallons of water -- i.e., 94250 x (5280 ft/mi x 5280 ft/mi x 12 in/ft x 12 in/ft) x 1 in / (231 cubic inches/gal).

How much water does California use?

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2014/08/21/usgs-estimates-vast-amounts-water-used-california/14400333/
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How much water does California use each year?

It's a complicated question, but the U.S. Geological Survey now has an answer for 2010: 42 million acre-feet per year, or about 38 billion gallons per day.

That includes water pumped from wells plus all of the water taken from sources such as rivers, canals and reservoirs.

To put that vast number in perspective: California has been using the equivalent of the full capacity of Lake Shasta, the state's largest reservoir, every 40 days.
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38 billion gal/day x 365.25 days/year = 13.8 trillion gallons used per year for California.

So that's equivalent to a little more than 8 inches of higher water level within all of the Great Lakes.


Water level of the Great Lakes have been increasing about a foot each year lately.
https://greatlakes.org/2020/04/water-levels-questions-answers/

I'm just pointing out some of the booms and busts of climate change -- mostly busts, since it's causing disruptions of old weather patterns all over the planet.

I'm NOT suggesting some kind of transport of Great Lakes water to the West, which is ridiculously impractical anyway.

EDITED TO FIX MY EARLIER MATH ERRORS!!
I originally posted that each inch of greater depth was equivalent to all of California's annual water usage! And I wrote quadrillions instead of trillions too. Good grief, I'm losing it as I get older.

[roamer65]

1. I'm not too worried about lake levels.

If utterly required, water can be pushed down the St Lawrence or the Mississippi via the Chicago Ship and Sanitary canal.

But water should never leave the aquifer without the approval of ALL of the Great Lakes Compact states and the Province of Ontario.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. I agree with you.

The Army Corp of Engineers, per a Congressional request to investigate the idea, deemed the idea of even transporting Great Lakes water to the far-closer Great Plains as not feasible, anyway.

[roamer65]

4. Last I heard, Lake Erie was running about 3 feet higher than normal.

I’m sure the recent rains in SE Michigan have boosted it. We have been taking a lot of water so far this year.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. Plenty of rain in my part of Ohio too.

The water level of the lakes can fluctuate quite a bit over the years, so I'm certainly not ready to declare a permanent water boom despite that NYT article.

[roamer65]

6. Neither am I.

I would rather see us have more than less when it comes to fresh water.

I’m also very glad that compact was enacted.

[greenjar_01]

7. 100% with you

We need to be good stewards of this water.

Other areas have shown themselves to be reckless with their environments.

[roamer65]

8. Yes, it's something like 21 pct of the world's fresh water.

The crown jewel of the system is Lake Superior, IMO.

Cold, clear and stunningly beautiful.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. Yes, that's the estimate from several sources.

And it's about 84% of all the fresh water in North America.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. Yikes!!

Source:

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/01/23/crumbling-great-lakes-shorelines-have-residents-moving-homes-safety/4466621002/

Photo gallery here:

https://www.detroitnews.com/picture-gallery/news/local/michigan/2020/01/23/high-water-erosion-threatens-homes-along-lake-michigan-shoreline/4504495002/


Kicked and recommended.
❤

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. Thanks for the links!

The crumbling land near those homes is looking pretty bad!

[littlemissmartypants]

12. You're welcome! Scary stuff and sad.

Nobody wants to see all that money and all their memories fall off a cliff! I don't think I'd be able to catch a wink of sleep under those conditions.