Beautiful but occasionally toxic
The first thing we did after getting settled in Cleveland was go to a park right along Lake Erie that had fantastic views and a beach. The lake looked incredibly refreshing, especially now that we were in the middle of summer, and we couldn’t wait to jump in and have some fun. However, our excitement waned a little bit after learning a bit more about the lake.
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and therefore is also the warmest. The warmer temperatures provide a great growing environment for algae-like cyanobacteria that can be toxic to people and kill pets. E. coli is another bacterium that will grow in warmer temperatures under the right conditions that regularly pop up on Lake Erie’s shoreline. This problem is so prevalent that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources tests the water at dozens of beaches daily and posts the water quality rating every morning informing people if it’s safe to swim or not.
The day we went into Lake Erie was a green day on the color-coded rating system, meaning it was safe to swim. Our plunges into the lake made it the fourth of the of five Great Lakes we’ve ventured into. We also visited Colombia Beach Falls, which is a small waterfall that feeds into Lake Erie just outside of Cleveland. While there during a strong rainstorm, we ran into a group of teenagers swimming in the lake.
