When I tell people I swim in Lake Erie, the first thing they want to know is whether the water is clean. I tell them water quality issues regarding Lake Erie are old news. The water is great for swimming MOST OF THE TIME. The exception is the 24 hour period after a rain storm. The storm and sanitary sewers were designed and built several generations ago. They were designed to overflow and intermingle under flood conditions. The overflow still happens. The cost to upgrade to current technology the system in Cleveland will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Suffice it to say the sensibilities of us swimmers are not a part of the decision equation. Never-the-less, I am happy to report that on days NOT following a rain storm the water is great for swimming. I should point out the the State of Ohio every day in the summer tests the bacteria levels at many public beaches. They publish historical, current and projected levels of Bacteria. I find this information be very helpful. I should also point out that water quality issues are not unique to Lake Erie. With the possible exception of certain mountain lakes and some municipal water reservoirs, I'm not sure there is clean water anywhere.
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