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How healthy is Lake Superior?

As for pollution, Lake Superior is the cleanest of the five Great Lakes. The lake's massive size helps dilute any pollutants that enter the water. Plus, it has fewer farms along its shores, reducing pollution. However, even though the lake is doing great, it could be doing better.



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Lake Superior's forested watershed and coastal wetlands help maintain water quality and a healthy aquatic ecosystem. Based on the assessments of the nine State of the Great Lakes indicators, the overall status of the Lake Superior basin ecosystem is Good and the trend is Unchanging.

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Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by area (31,700 mi2 /82,100 km2). It is also the coldest and deepest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 406 meters (1,332 feet). By most measures, it is the healthiest of all the Great Lakes.

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Yes, Lake Superior is safe for swimming. Lake Superior has the lowest drowning rate among all the Great Lakes.

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The average underwater visibility of Lake Superior is 27 feet, making it easily the cleanest and clearest of the Great Lakes. Underwater visibility in places reaches 100 feet. Lake Superior has been described as the most oligotrophic lake in the world.

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Lake Erie, the smallest and shallowest of the five lakes, is also the filthiest; if every sewage pipe were turned off today, it would take 10 years for nature to purify Erie.

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Lake Superior holds a massive volume of water because of its enormous inland basin and the hundreds of rivers that feed it.

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Lake Michigan in particular is the roughest of the Great Lakes, and poses a major risk to those thinking of taking a dip.

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3. Who Owns Lake Superior? Lake Superior is shared by Canada and the United States of America.

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Lake Superior in a nutshell: The world's largest lake by surface area. The largest of the Great Lakes. Contains more water than all four other Great Lakes combined. Water flows from Lake Superior out to Lake Huron.

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Species native to the lake include banded killifish, bloater, brook trout, burbot, cisco, lake sturgeon, lake trout, lake whitefish, longnose sucker, muskellunge, northern pike, pumpkinseed, rock bass, round whitefish, smallmouth bass, walleye, white sucker and yellow perch.

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Bainbridge believes Lake Superior's advisories misleadingly brand all fish as unsafe. “Lake Superior is still one of the most pristine resources for consumable products,” he said. “It's really not fair on how that can affect our market.” Experts say he has a point.

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Sea lampreys are the Great Lakes' biggest predators. They attach to valuable fish and feed on their victims blood and body fluids.

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While there have been past “sightings,” most have turned out to be pranks or misidentifications. The reality is that the largest of the Great Lakes (Lake Superior and Michigan) are extremely deep lakes that are too cold for sharks.

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Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh water.



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Although the exact number of shipwrecks on Lake Superior is difficult to track, most historians mark it at about 6,000, although some say it could be upwards of 25,000. Just to the east of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, sits Whitefish Point, the site of the most famous shipwreck of Lake Superior.

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About a billion years ago, a fracture in the earth running from what is now Oklahoma to Lake Superior generated volcanic activity that almost split North America. Over a period of 20 million years, lava intermittently flowed from the fracture.

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Without a doubt, spring water is the winner. It is considered the best water to drink, providing vital nutrients as it moves through the body. This is, of course, spring water that is bottled at the source and proven to be actual living spring water.

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