Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Canada has well over 800,000 lakes, making it the country with the most lakes in the world. With so many lakes, you can imagine it’s hard to choose just one to visit. Most of the lakes in Canada are clear and perfect for swimming and exploring. But which lakes are the clearest? Can you swim in the lakes? Follow along to discover the 9 clearest lakes in Canada and fun facts about each.
Growing up, I was always surrounded by the serene beauty of lakes. From family picnics by the shores of Lake Ontario to my first canoeing experience in the pristine waters of Lake Louise, lakes have been an integral part of my identity. Their vastness, depth, and the life they support have always fascinated me. Today, I invite you on a journey to explore some of the most interesting facts about Canadian lakes, interwoven with personal memories and reflections.
Then, over the headset, Melnick swore. “Oh my God,” he said. “It’s a shipwreck.” Eighty-five metres below their boat sat a large wooden ship, in waters so crystal clear that the image on screen looked like a toy ship preserved in a bottle. The ship was almost perfectly intact—with one catch. Over every part of its exterior, the distinctive yellow-brown-black shells of quagga mussels formed a solid crust, including over the stern where the boat should have borne her name. Half-sunk into the sand nearby lay a ceramic teacup, without so much as a crack.
Some of the most spectacular lakes in the world call Canada home. In fact, Canada has more lake area coverage than any other country. For example, 563 lakes in the country span over 40 square miles. Furthermore, fresh bodies of water cover eight percent of Canada’s landmass. Therefore, not only do these lakes provide a source of fresh water, but they also bring in a lot of tourism with their recreational activities. However, these lakes also serve an abundance of wildlife, including snakes. So, below is a list of the most snake-infested lakes in Canada.
Residents are concerned about the large number of dead fish found floating in the Ausable River in Port Franks, Ont., and are questioning the safety of the waterway used by boaters and swimmers. The municipality of Lambton Shores said it was alerted to issue on Saturday, with reports that hundreds of fish of various species were turning up in the marina and along the banks of the river, which flows into Lake Huron.
Corey Adkins, 52, communication and content director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, said the crossing will raise awareness of the Great Lakes. He has followed the group and produced documentaries on their work. Problems on the Great Lakes vary from algal blooms to microplastics, he said. "They are all in trouble in one form or another," he said. "What these guys do is bring awareness of the problems of each lake. The mission that these guys are on is very important."
Oneida Nation of the Thames, a First Nation just south of London, Ont., that has been on a boil-water advisory since 2019, has secured $43 million in federal funding to bring treated drinking water to the community. The connection to the Lake Huron Primary Water System will supply potable water to more than 500 homes and public buildings to the community, which is home to nearly 2,200 residents.
An initiative aiming to advance water quality protection and healthy sustainable communities around Lake Huron has awarded funding to a handful of local projects. Lake Huron Forever, which was developed in 2019 by shoreline community foundations and conservation partners from the United States and Canada, has awarded $5,000 grants to four projects in Ontario with ties to the local area, including Bruce County and Manitoulin Island. Grants were also handed out to four projects in Michigan. Those receiving funding in Ontario are a schoolyard stormwater bioswale project at Peninsula Shores District School in Wiarton, a coastal stewardship and education program by the Goderich-based Lake Huron Coastal Centre, the cover crop initiative of the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority, and the Kagawong River Stream Restoration on Manitoulin Island.
None of the three most recent objects have been recovered, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in Brussels, where he was scheduled to attend a NATO defence ministers meeting this week. The U.S. Air Force general overseeing North American airspace said a recovery effort will be undertaken to gain more information about an octagonal object shot down over Lake Huron. Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) and Northern Command, said the object likely fell into Canadian waters. However, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said Canada didn't have any evidence to suggest the debris drifted into Canadian water.
The couple is telling their story publicly for the first time — to warn others of the potential risk in buying shoreline property in Great Lakes communities, where the forces of erosion, fluctuating water levels and battering storms have been accelerated by climate change. Bousfield and Stumpf said once they discovered the house was at risk, they looked at options to remediate the collapsing bluff in order to save the house from being swallowed by the sparkling blue waters of Lake Huron. But what they found was a dizzying array of choices that ranged from $370,000 to well over $1 million. The solutions included everything from building a retaining wall, to dumping enough dirt over the bluff to hold it up, even spraying the entire bluff with a substance called shotcrete (basically, sprayed concrete), which is typically used keep the sheer face of open pit mines from collapsing.
Local and federal officials are cautiously optimistic construction will be underway this spring for a water pipeline to serve the Oneida Nation of the Thames in southwestern Ontario. The pipeline, still in the design phase, is expected to be 18 kilometres long and connect the First Nation community with clean drinking water through the Lake Huron Water Supply System.
Buried beneath the gravel shoulder of the intersection is a 16-inch diameter wide water main. The pipe is part of the Lake Huron Primary Water Supply System, the same vast network that carries treated Lake Huron water to 15 municipalities across an area the size of Prince Edward Island. Parts of London, along with Middlesex Centre, Strathroy-Caradoc, Lucan-Biddulph, Grand Bend and others, are supplied by this system.
A state of emergency remains in effect for the Oneida Nation of the Thames as water levels have fluctuated from critically low to extremely high in a “very short time frame.” Oneida officials first declared a state of emergency on Dec. 15, 2022, after an “all-time low water level was recorded in the community’s water tower,” its main source of water. Community members were asked to cease all non-essential water use over the holiday period.
This past week, representatives from the Sault officially applied to become the site of the Canada Water Agency. Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said he is confident the city's bid will be successful. “We’re located right here in the middle of the Great Lakes on the gathering place between Lake Huron and Lake Superior and a short drive or short boat ride away in some cases from Lake Michigan,” Shoemaker said. “When you think water in Canada, freshwater specifically, Sault Ste. Marie is at the heart of it all.”
The status of Lake Huron is good and unchanging — and it needs constant monitoring to make sure it stays that way, says a scientist with a local environmental association. In late July, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada released its State of the Great Lakes 2022 Report. The report, typically produced every two years, is part of the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the United States and based on nine indicators of ecosystem health, such as drinking water, fish consumption, and beach closures.
A study on water levels projects an unprecedented drop of water levels on Lakes Michigan-Huron and Georgian Bay to 1.1 metres (3.5 feet) below the record low by 2030. By 2040, levels may rise to 0.3 metres (one foot) higher than the 1986 record high. The study by W.F. Baird & Associates Coastal Engineers Ltd. was commissioned by the Georgian Bay Great Lakes Foundation (GBGLF) and was shared virtually by GBGLF on May 16/17. The Baird conclusions are essentially the same as those found in a recently completed five-year study by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), presented during a week-long Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands webinar series from April 4 to 8.
Microplastics were found in 83.3 percent of Lake Huron water samples collected by Coast Watchers in 2021. Coast Watchers is a program of the Lake Huron Coastal Centre (LHCC) and has been in operation since 2005, analzying water samples for microplastics since 2018. That first year they found microplastics in 95.7 percent of the samples collected. The trend is not generally going down, said Alyssa Bourassa, coastal stewardship technician at the Centre.
Sault Ste. Marie wants to be the home for a new federal government agency that could create at least 100 full-time jobs in the community. The city is making the case that it would be the ideal location for the new Canada Water Agency, which would improve freshwater management across the country. Kathleen Heymans, the city's business development manager, said the agency would expand on existing expertise built around freshwater management in Sault Ste. Marie.
Bipartisan Michigan lawmakers are pressing President Joe Biden to talk to the Canadian government about stopping the proposal for a permanent repository for radioactive waste near Lake Huron. U.S. Reps. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township; Andy Levin, D-Bloomfield Township; and Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids Township, spoke out ahead of Biden's recent meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, expressing their opposition to the plans.
In Canada, nuclear industry officials are surveying an area near Lake Huron as a potential underground storage site for nuclear waste. The rural town of Teeswater, Ontario, could become the home of Canada’s first repository for spent nuclear fuel. The CBC reports that industry officials have begun drilling more than a half mile below the town, to understand how water moves deep underground. The potential storage site would be carved from bedrock at those depths. The project is projected to cost $23 billion and to take 40 years to complete. It has become a divisive issue in Teeswater. Some argue the project provides a safe place to store nuclear waste, while others say the area’s proximity to Lake Huron makes it too risky. Teeswater is one of two sites under consideration. The other is in northern Ontario.
