Is Lake Ontario a healthy lake?

Lake Ontario continues to be a good source of high-quality drinking water. Toxic chemicals monitored in Lake Ontario are assessed as Fair and long-term trends indicate that concentrations are declining, including declines in contaminant concentrations in fish filets.



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For those of you wondering if it is safe to swim in Lake Ontario, Waterkeeper's answer is, Yes! It just depends where and when you want to swim.

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The opposite of Lake Superior in almost every way, Lake Ontario is the easternmost, lowest in elevation, smallest in surface area and perhaps the most polluted Great Lake.

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Millions of people rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water, which is considered safe if filtered properly. The city of Toronto treats over 1 billion litres of drinking water every day. That water is collected from Lake Ontario through intake pipes deep below the surface and at least 1 km from the shore.

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Dry yourself off with a towel as soon as you come out of the water. If possible, have a shower and dry off right away. However, showering will not remove any larvae that have already burrowed under your skin.

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If there is scum or algae visible in the water, it won't be clean enough to swim in. There are also natural hazards to outdoor waters compared with pools, especially in the summer. Blue-green algae is a type of bacteria naturally found in lake ecosystems.

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Little Cove, Tobermory Located in Little Cove Provincial Park, the rugged Lake Huron shoreline provides some of the clearest water in Ontario.

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ALBANY, N.Y. (June 21, 2021)- The New York State Department of Health today issued new advice about eating fish caught in New York waters that allows the entire family to eat fish from Lake Ontario, Niagara River, and most of the St. Lawrence River.

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Blue Lake, New Zealand Located in Nelson Lakes National Parks, Blue Lake is the clearest lake in the world. The lake is also known as Rotomairewhenua.

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The Great Lakes are not (noticeably) salty because water flows into them as well as out of them, carrying away the low concentrations of minerals in the water, writes Michael Moore of Toronto. Eventually, this water, with its small load of dissolved minerals or salts, reaches the sea.

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In September 1954, 16-year-old Marilyn Bell became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario. Originally, the Lake Ontario swim had been planned by the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) as a publicity event that offered American marathon swimmer Florence Chadwick $10,000 to cross the lake.

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Lake Ontario is one of the world's most difficult marathon swims, defined as a non-stop swim in open water for at least 10 kilometres. It is not as storied as the English Channel swim, and certainly not as trafficked – 2,400 people have completed solo crossings of its 30-kilometres.

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Stay out of the water if Cloudy water can be a warning that there are more germs in the water than normal. Discolored or smelly water could mean there is a harmful algal bloom (HAB) in the water.

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