Can you drink water from Lake Michigan?

Lake Michigan, by volume, is the second largest Great Lake and the only one located totally within the United States. It serves as a source of drinking water, as a place for swimming and fishing, and as a scenic wonderland. Water from Lake Michigan enters the intake crib at depths of 20 to 30 feet.



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Drinking Water - State of the Great Lakes. The 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement states that “the Waters of the Great Lakes should be a source of safe, high quality drinking water”. Approximately 8.5 million Canadians and 19.5 million Americans get their drinking water from the surface waters of the Great Lakes.

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Safe for Swimming? The answer is, it depends. Under the right conditions, Lake Michigan is safe for swimming. But this lake can also present dangerous, even deadly, conditions for swimmers.

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The average underwater visibility of Lake Superior is about 8 metres or 27 feet, making it the cleanest and clearest of the Great Lakes.

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Should you shower after swimming in Lake Michigan? Take a shower: Bathe yourself after swimming in a lake in order to maintain hygiene and stay clean. If bacteria has not entered your body, it may be actively resting on your skin, creating a rash or finding an open cut to infect.

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The blue in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron is sediment brought to the surface when strong winds churned the lakes. The green in Lake Erie and in Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay is algae, which builds on the surface when winds are calm.

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Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake in North America (by surface area) and the eleventh-largest worldwide. It is the Great Lakes' southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume. By the 1960s, Lake Erie had become the most polluted of the Great Lakes, owing to the substantial industrial presence along its coasts.

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Lake Michigan: No more than 1 MI serving per month. Portage Lake in Houghton County: No more than 2 MI servings per month. Gull Lake in Kalamazoo County: No more than 2 MI servings per month. Higgins Lake in Roscommon County: No more than 4 MI servings per month.

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Lake Michigan has the longest stretch from north to south of all the Great Lakes, giving it a very diverse climate, which allows for a wide variety of plant and animal species. The lake boasts a variety of natural habitats, including tallgrass prairies, wide savannas, and the world's largest freshwater sand dunes.

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A north-northeast wind has pushed the warmer surface water along the Michigan shore back toward the middle of Lake Michigan and brought up colder water from well beneath the surface. This process is called upwelling.

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