Battle of the Waters

The bottleneck was at the Alton (Ill.) lock, just below the point where the Illinois River, fed in part from Lake Michigan by way of the man-made Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, joins the sluggish Mississippi in its 2,350-mile sweep to the Gulf. There, as many as 200 Chicago-bound barges were stalled at one time this fall as the water in the lower sill, diminished by the four-year drought in the Mississippi Valley (TIME, Dec. 17), fell from its normal (9 ft.) level to a bottom-scraping 6 ft., thus forcing the carriers to lighten their loads if they were to proceed. For the shippers the lightening was time-consuming and expensive (up to $1,000,000 a month). But the jam-up was even more critical to Chicagoans: as winter approached, it threatened them with a fuel crisis, since many of the barges carry coal and oil.

Temporary Increase. To this crisis last week Washington flashed an emergency answer. The signalers: the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1930, after a hot legal battle between Illinois and other major Great Lakes areas, had limited the amount of water Chicago could divert from Lake Michigan for canal use to 1,500 cu. ft. a second. Reason for the limitation: by diverting larger amounts in the past (claimed the Great Lakes group), Chicago had reduced the lakes' water level to a point harmful to lake shipping. The court's new decree, answering an Illinois petition backed by seven other Mississippi Valley states and actively opposed only by Wisconsin among the Great Lakers: a temporary (through Jan. 31) increase to 8,500 cu. ft. a second. The effects were magical. Within hours, twelve oil barges started northward from New Orleans, and by week's end, as Army engineers opened the Chicago and inland locks in easy stages, the jam-up at Alton lock was well on its way to being eased.

Doubly magical was the effect on Chicago's Sanitary District, which for years has been pressing for greater water diversion to aid Chicago sewage disposal as well as inland navigation. Twice since 1953 it has seen Congress pass and President Eisenhower veto bills authorizing experimental increases to 2,500 cu. ft. a second for three years, during which time the Army engineers would be supposed to study the effects on the lakes. Now, by virtue of the decree, it had won--even though for a limited period--not only more water for itself but a chance to check how badly lake shipping and power interests would really be hurt by added siphonage. Chortled Sanitary District President Anthony A. Olis: a "milestone" has been reached that will make it easier for Illinois to get an increased diversion bill enacted into law.

Calling the Wishy-Washy. The prediction brought Wisconsin, and especially the port city of Milwaukee, flailing into the battle of the waters. City officials declared they would rally the Great Lakes states to fight new diversion attempts. Moreover, they said, if Illinois seeks extension of the temporary increase, they would insist that Wisconsin's attorney general file objections with the court, and would expect the "wishy-washy Lake states," which did not resist the temporary diversion, to join the fight.

Explained Milwaukee Port Director Harry C. Brockel: "The Supreme Court decision creates a dangerous precedent . . . The Great Lakes have a great many jobs of their own to do without becoming the village water tower for the eastern half of the United States. Enough of these diversion plans will pull the cork out of the bathtub."

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