You Won’t Believe How Bad Pollution In China Has Become

[amandabeech]

46. It was the Cuyahoga River that caught on fire.

It empties into Lake Erie at Cleveland. Here's a link to photos of the fire:

https://www.google.com/search?q=cuyahoga+river+fire&client=firefox-a&hs=Y6Q&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=I3gnVPuLJMG0yASl4IKADw&ved=0CB8QsAQ&biw=1366&bih=631

Lake Erie is in better shape but there are still problems once in a while. There was a toxic algae bloom in the western end of the Lake this summer that made the drinking water in Toledo and other nearby cities undrinkable.

Part of Lake Erie's problems is that it is quite shallow and small and heats up more in the summer than the larger and deeper Great Lakes. It also has a high pollution load even now because it is just down river of Detroit, and is bordered by Toledo, Cleveland and industrial cities in between. Lake Michigan has fewer problems because the Chicago area's pollution drains toward the Mississippi through the reversed Chicago River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. And Lake Michigan is considerably larger, and usually can handle the pollution load from Milwaukee and the smaller industrial cities that dot the Wisconsin and southern Michigan shores without fouling the water so badly that the drinking water pulled from it cannot be treated sufficiently to be safe.