Which of the Great Lakes is at the greatest risk for pollution?

Environmental stressors such as climate change, invasive species, toxic chemicals, agricultural pollutants, and coastal development are degrading the ecosystem. Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Michigan are most at risk.



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The most polluted Great Lake is Lake Erie.

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Sources of pollution include:
  • runoff of soils and farm chemicals from agricultural lands.
  • waste from cities.
  • discharges from industrial areas.
  • leachate from disposal sites.
  • direct atmospheric pollutants that fall as rain, snow, or dust on the lake surface, or exchange as gases with the lake water.


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Watershed's surface: 209,000 square kms. Lake Superior is the largest, cleanest, and wildest of all the Great Lakes.

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Unfortunately, the Great Lakes suffer from pollution, like many other water bodies around the world.

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Lake Superior is the Cleanest and Clearest Great Lake Because of its somewhat isolated location and long cold winters, not much farming is done along Superior's shores. This means lower amounts of nutrients, sediments, and organic material are floating around the lake.

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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 Michigan The Great Lakes are all water bodies that swimmers should think twice about entering. Lake Michigan in particular is the roughest of the Great Lakes, and poses a major risk to those thinking of taking a dip. This body of water is often named the most dangerous lake in the United States.

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Waste from city sewers made its way into the lake too, as did fertilizer and pesticides from agricultural runoff. As a result of these pollutants, Lake Erie contained increased levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, which contributed to eutrophication - a process that encourages the development of algal blooms.

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Texas Is Now the Nation's Biggest Emitter of Toxic Substances Into Streams, Rivers and Lakes - Inside Climate News.

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During the 1960s, Lake Erie was declared a “dead lake” due to eutrophication and pollution. The children's book, The Lorax, written by Dr. Seuss, actually included the following line referring to fish: “They will walk on their fins and get woefully weary in search of some water that isn't so smeary.

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Currents in Lake Erie can be dangerous! Any current flowing faster than 2 mph is considered dangerous. Dangerous currents can exceed 5 mph — faster than an Olympic swimmer can swim.

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The Great Lakes are fascinating and a dream come true for swimmers. Yes, we can all swim in the Great Lakes. It's even possible to swim in all five Great Lakes in less than 24 hours!

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Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and acts more like a river than a lake. Its average depth is just 62 feet, yet it is usually a mere 30 feet or less in the western basin.

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Lake Karachay, a small lake in the southern Ural mountains in western Russia, is thought to be the most polluted spot on Earth. Starting in 1951, the Soviet Union used Karachay as a dumping site for radioactive waste from Mayak, a nearby nuclear waste storage and reprocessing facility located near the town of Ozyorsk.

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Lake Michigan wrecks: the oldest and the mostest Lake Michigan contains more shipwrecks than any of the other Great Lakes, as well as the oldest recorded one: the French ship Griffon, the first European vessel to sail the Lakes.

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The cause of the algae blooms Lake Erie's algae blooms are caused by runoff pollution. This type of pollution occurs when rainfall washes fertilizer and manure spread on large farm fields into streams that flow into Lake Erie.

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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).

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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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