@article{801549,
      recid = {801549},
      author = {Egan, Dan,},
      title = {The death and life of the Great Lakes /},
      pages = {xix, 364 pages :},
      abstract = {"The Great Lakes--Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and  Superior--hold 20 percent of the world's supply of surface  fresh water and provide sustenance, work and recreation for  tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as  never before, and their problems are spreading across the  continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is  prize-winning reporter Dan Egan's compulsively readable  portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right  before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with  an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can  restore and preserve them for generations to come. For  thousands of years the pristine Great Lakes were separated  from the Atlantic Ocean by the roaring Niagara Falls and  from the Mississippi River basin by a "sub-continental  divide." Beginning in the late 1800s, these barriers were  circumvented to attract oceangoing freighters from the  Atlantic and to allow Chicago's sewage to float out to the  Mississippi. These were engineering marvels in their  time--and the changes in Chicago arrested a deadly cycle of  waterborne illnesses--but they have had horrendous  unforeseen consequences. Egan provides a chilling account  of how sea lamprey, zebra and quagga mussels and other  invaders have made their way into the lakes, decimating  native species and largely destroying the age-old  ecosystem. And because the lakes are no longer isolated,  the invaders now threaten water intake pipes, hydroelectric  dams and other infrastructure across the country. Egan also  explores why outbreaks of toxic algae stemming from the  overapplication of farm fertilizer have left massive  biological "dead zones" that threaten the supply of fresh  water. He examines fluctuations in the levels of the lakes  caused by manmade climate change and overzealous dredging  of shipping channels. And he reports on the chronic threats  to siphon off Great Lakes water to slake drier regions of  America or to be sold abroad. In an age when dire problems  like the Flint water crisis or the California drought bring  ever more attention to the indispensability of safe, clean,  easily available Water, The Death and Life of the Great  Lakes is a powerful paean to what is arguably our most  precious resource, an urgent examination of what threatens  it and a convincing call to arms about the relatively  simple things we need to do to protect it."--Dust jacket.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/801549},
}