Should States Physically Separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Watersheds?

From this AP story:
Groups representing states and cities in the Great Lakes region kicked off a $2 million study Thursday of how to slam the door on exotic species such as Asian carp by cutting links between the lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. The 18-month project will develop options for physically separating the two drainage basins. They were joined artificially a century ago with the creation of a Chicago-area waterway system that has helped destructive invaders such as zebra and quagga mussels spread as far west as California.

"Ecological separation is the only way we're going to permanently protect against invasive species," said Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission, an agency representing the eight states adjoining the lakes. "Everything short of that is likely to fail." The commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative are coordinating and raising money for the study. The Joyce Foundation and the Great Lakes Protection Fund have pledged nearly $700,000 between them, Eder said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has promised to investigate separation as part of a long-range analysis of exotic species movement between the two water basins. But that could take several years, while advocates of separation want quicker action.

Your thoughts? Do you think by the time the study concludes Asian carp will already be in the Great Lakes?