Whether you want to call him a lame duck or not, Chicago Mayor Richard M Daley wants to float out of office and into Lake Michigan. Days after announcing his decision not to seek reelection the long-serving mayor hinted at a possible last hurrah: the re-reversal of the Chicago River.

More than a century ago the city of Chicago undertook the laborious task of reversing its river so that waste would not flow into Lake Michigan, the city’s water supply. In shades of the Erie Canal, redirected river also facilitated trade with the west. Now with his final term coming to a close Daley, who worked to clean up both the river and Lake Michigan, might just try to put things back how they were.  Why?  To fight sinking water levels in the lake.

What’s more, the EPA wants to make the river swimmable. So are you ready to take a dip in the  Chicago River?