Chicago was built along a maze of rivers and marshy wetlands. Flooding has been an issue since Day 1.
Engineers have dreamed up big, ambitious schemes to keep the water confined to our rivers and lakes and out of our streets and homes. They raised buildings to lay the original sewer pipes, reversed the flow of the Chicago River to protect our source of drinking water and in 1975 began construction of the Deep Tunnel — formally known as the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, or TARP — to capture excess water during heavy rains.
