TRAVERSE CITY (AP) -- Two organizations are proposing a massive engineering project costing up to $9.5 billion to sever a man-made link between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins in the Chicago area.
The Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative say the plan released Tuesday is the only sure way to prevent invasive species from migrating between the two watersheds.
They're particularly concerned about Asian carp.
The Chicago waterways are a potential pathway for the invasive fish species to reach Lake Michigan.
The plan offers three alternatives for separating the two aquatic systems. Each would cut the flow of water between them by placing one or more barriers in the Chicago waterways by 2029.
Their estimated price tags range from $3.2 billion to $9.5 billion.
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