Ottawa officials to consider future of Illinois and Michigan Canal

Ottawa officials will meet soon on the future of the Illinois and Michigan Canal rewatering project.

A project intended to beautify the city, the canal was drained after it became stagnant within weeks of being watered.

Leaky concrete and burned-out sump pumps led to lessened circulation of the canal’s water and vandals damaged the lining, playing a role in weeds and algae growing.

Mayor Dan Aussem said the water may need to be deeper to get rid of the weeds problem, as its 3-foot depth isn’t enough to sustain fish without regular circulation.

“We’re having all interested parties to a meeting soon,” Aussem said. “We have some options and we’re contemplating whether or not just to fill it a couple of times a year, long enough to get some fun days, or do something to tie it in and then drain it back down, so we don’t have the issues with the cattails.”

An option suggested was to dig underneath the area between La Salle and Columbus streets because it is all sandstone in that area. Aussem said there are no utilities that run through that area, so contractors would be able to dig 10 to 12 feet deep and fill it with fresh water.

An aeration system is another option. This plan would bring in air compressors with hoses and weights to keep the equipment laid on the bottom so it could be strung around the canal, and air used to increase circulation. Aussem said that plan would require the water to be 6 feet deep in most cases, however.

“We don’t really have a cost on it yet,” Aussem said. “We’re hoping to get everyone together after we have the engineers inspect it. We want to have a ballpark price on our options so we can see what our options are.”

The canal rewatering project has cost more than $1.3 million, according to records obtained by The Times in a Freedom of Information Act request.

The Ottawa I&M Canal Association was able to raise $200,000 itself and the city also received a $100,000 Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity grant.

Commissioner James Less has voted against aspects of the project in the last year, although he said he is not against the project as a whole.

“As it was originally designed, it was going to be 8 or 9 feet deep and I thought it would be great,” Less said. “Stocking it with fish would give us a whole lot of flexibility. When I saw 3 feet, I backed out.”

The canal was drained at the beginning of July a week after a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. The canal was overtaken by algae and weeds, which Less said will thrive in water that shallow. The overgrowth made it difficult for anyone wishing to navigate the canal via kayak, which had become its main use in the time since it was rewatered.

“Three feet of water isn’t something you can manage,” Less said. “It’s an ideal breeding ground for cattails and algae and you can’t stop it. You can’t put fish in there because they won’t survive the summer or winter and fish are the No. 1 predator for mosquitoes.”

IDNR fisheries biologist Seth Love said the water should be about 10 feet deep and the water needs to be turned over completely every 24 hours to combat the algae and overgrowth problem.

Less said the canal can’t get dug any deeper because there are two water mains that go across the canal that only have 2 or 3 feet of dirt over the top of them, and the rock excavation would be too expensive.

“We have what we have ... something that will hold 3 feet of water, that we’ll have to do some creative maintenance on,” Less said. “We’re going to have ongoing maintenance on it with battling cattails.”

Less doesn’t believe the canal can’t be used, however. Because algae and mosquitoes thrive in the hottest months, he thinks the canal can be filled up from September until June every year, allowing the city to hopefully use it from that time.

When the hottest summer months come, it can be drained, sprayed, and refilled at the end of August.

“The expensive part would be keeping it full and maintained from June through August,” Less said. “The end result won’t be a pristine body of water with swimming pool quality. We’re going to have algae in it.”

Aussem is planning to get all parties involved together for a public meeting in the coming months to address options for the canal.