Is it safe to swim in Lake Erie Buffalo?

Lake Erie scored a good rating in two categories: drinking water and ground water. Swimming, consumption of fish and harmful pollutants are rated as fair.



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Among the cleanest Lake Erie beaches is Headlands Beach State Park, which features a mile-long natural sand beach that's unbelievably picturesque. It's actually the longest natural sand beach in the state of Ohio.

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Headlands Beach State Park This Lake Erie beach is full of activities and adventure spots. Enjoy swimming, kayaking, fishing, and more! The beach also offers plenty of trails for hiking and biking. Come enjoy this beach and take in the beautiful sights!

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The 12 Best Lake Erie Beaches in Ohio and Pennsylvania
  • Nickel Plate Beach (huron, Ohio) ...
  • Lake Erie Bluffs (perry, Ohio) ...
  • East Harbor State Park (lakeside Marblehead, Ohio) ...
  • Cedar Point Beach (cedar Point, Ohio) ...
  • South Bass Island State Park (put-in-bay, Ohio) ...
  • Presque Isle Beach (erie County, Pennsylvania)


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Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest average water residence time. At its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 feet deep.



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Lake Erie is the second smallest Great Lake by surface area, and the smallest by volume. Because of this, the water of Lake Erie also has the shortest residence time. Water in this lake replaces itself every 2.6 years, as opposed to Lake Superior, which takes two centuries.

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You may have heard about the rip tide or undertow before. These are terms that people commonly use to describe dangerous currents. However, since there are no tides in the Great Lakes (needed to form a rip tide) and currents don't pull a person down under the water (undertow), they are a bit inaccurate.

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We at the US Fish and Wildlife Service would like to let the public know that the water in Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge is contaminated with bacteria (fecal coliform and E. coli). The lake water may also carry other contaminants that could make humans and animals sick.

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Lake Erie and Lake Michigan are ranked the third and fourth most polluted lakes in the United States, according to nature website AZ Animals.

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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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Dead Zones This stratification of lake water is due to the different densities of water with temperature change. The bacterial activity increases as dead algae and other materials settle to the bottom of the lake. Since the hypolimnion is much smaller than the upper layers, the oxygen can be depleted during the summer.

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Lake Erie occupies a basin that was carved out of Earth's crust over millions of years by rivers and glaciers. The oldest rocks from which the basin was carved are about 400 million years old and formed in a tropical ocean reef environment.

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At 1,943 feet (592 meters), Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and one of the deepest in the world. The depths were first explored thoroughly in 1886 by a party from the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Twenty-six islands dot Lake Erie of which South Bass Island, Kelleys Island and Middle Bass Island are the best known and most visited.

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