"We are seeing an exciting shift in communities after businesses left and downtowns are looking to revitalize, " said Jason Carey, founder of River Restoration, a Colorado-based engineering firm working on the Grand River effort.

WSJ: Real Rapids in Grand Rapids?

Louis sought a court injunction, but this engineering feat made the Chicago the first river in the world to flow away from its mouth.

FORBES: A most unromantic river

Poison in the Vadose Zone: An examination of the threats to the Snake River Plain aquifer from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

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Even the mighty Chicago River, proclaimed as one of the great engineering efforts of its age, may be re-engineered.

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