Lake Superior was named one of the top ten cleanest lakes in the nation in a recent study. Pictured is the Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse on Lake Superior. It’s just north of Munising, Michigan. (Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Gro ((Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Four of the nation’s cleanest lakes are located in the Midwest.
That’s according to a study released by travel marketplace Lake, which ranked the top ten cleanest and dirtiest lakes in the country.
Which Midwest lakes are the cleanest?
Big picture view:
The study released by Lake evaluated chemical data for the country’s 100 largest lakes.
Several of the Great Lakes were ranked among the cleanest in the nation.
According to Lake, the cleanest lake in the country is Washington’s Lake Chelan.
Lake Superior, which touches parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario, ranked second.
“However, Lake Superior, which was the cleanest lake in last year’s report, ranks a close second with the lowest turbidity of any lake (0.54 NTU), low [total disolved solids] levels (74 mg/L), and high oxygen levels (10.58 mg/L),” the study reads.
Minnesota’s Rainy Lake was named fourth cleanest.
A second Great Lake, Lake Michigan, ranked seventh in the study. Its shores touch Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
In ninth place came Lake Huron, another Great Lake with shores in Michigan and Ontario.
Dirtiest Midwest lakes:
Per the Lake study, Great Salt Lake in Utah is the country’s dirtiest body of water.
Meanwhile, three Midwest lakes ranked in the top 10 most dirty.
Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin’s largest inland lake, was named the third most dirty. That’s the worst ranking for any Midwest lake, and is due to its high levels of phosphorus.
Following in fourth is Minnesota’s Lake Vermillion.
“Lake Vermilion is the second least oxygenated lake, behind the Great Salt Lake, with dissolved oxygen of just 3.90 mg/L,” the study reads.
Devils Lake in North Dakota, which appeared at no. 5 on the list, “is likely to be the smelliest of all, as it has the highest levels of sulfate (639 mg/L) due to no natural outlet to dilute sulfates over time,” according to the study. “The smell of sulfate is often described as similar to ‘rotten egg’.”
What they’re saying:
Officials at Lake recommend checking local conditions and signage before jumping into a swimming hole at your favorite lake.
“America’s largest lakes remain, on the whole, clean and pleasant to swim in. Even the lakes at the top of our dirtiest table sit within the range you would expect for large natural bodies of water, which shows that there is good maintenance and care for them,” said David Ciccarelli, CEO of Lake. “However, with that in mind, some monitoring of lakes throughout the country is uneven from one lake to the next, so anyone looking to visit a lake, particularly swimmers, needs to check any signage near their local swimming spot and follow the advice given to them. No lake in the ranking is inherently dangerous, but you could be at risk of a stomach bug.”
The Source: This report was written based on data from a Lake study. It was reported from Eden Prairie, Minnesota.