Wisconsin v. Illinois & the Sanitary District of Chicago

Background

Illinois asked the Court and the neighboring Great Lakes States to allow a temporary, much larger flow of water from Lake Michigan through the Chicago Sanitary Canal. Illinois said that since the 1930 decree went fully into operation at the end of 1938, flocculent active sludge and sewage sludge had built up in the Brandon Road Pool and threatened the health of people living nearby. The States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York denied that those accumulations created a nuisance but, following a suggestion by the Special Master, agreed in a written stipulation to permit a short test increase in flow while expressly reserving all legal positions.

Reasoning

The practical question was whether to allow a single, continuous ten-day surge of water — from 1,500 to 10,000 cubic feet per second plus domestic pumpage — to try to scour out the accumulated sludge. The parties’ stipulation set clear conditions: the increase would be limited to ten days, a record of the operation and its results would be kept and added to the hearing record, and the agreement would not be used as a precedent or construed as any party waiving its claims. Relying on that stipulation, the Court authorized the Sanitary District of Chicago to make the temporary increase beginning December 2, 1940, and ordered that after the test the 1930 decree’s terms remain in full force.

Real world impact

The order allows a short-term cleanup effort that may change local water and sanitation conditions and could affect residents and navigation near Brandon Road Pool. The authorization is temporary and does not decide the underlying dispute about nuisance or health risks; the recorded results will inform later proceedings.