Along Lakeshore Path

Many industrial chemicals that bombarded the lake and nearby rivers during most of the 20th century, such as PCBs and mercury, have since been banned or heavily regulated. Still, they live on in sediment and in fish and other organisms. The toxins are at their highest in the tissue of predatory fish like salmon and trout because they ingest more chemicals each time they eat contaminated fish. In fact, PCBs and mercury levels in adult predatory fish can be thousands of times higher than the levels found in sediment – high enough for states to set limits on what is safe to eat. These advisories help anglers and consumers avoid eating toxins that have been linked to serious human health concerns like cancer and birth defects.

High contaminant levels can also drive away aquatic life and waterbirds altogether and leave the water unsafe for people to drink or swim in. To restore areas hit hardest by pollution, the federal government passed the Great Lakes Legacy Act, which provides funding for communities to clean up river and lake bottoms. As of 2013, 15 sites across the region have been cleaned up, and almost 2.4 million cubic yards of polluted sediment have been removed or capped.

Watch a video about the Great Lakes Legacy Act and its impacts.