.The Great Lakes: A Magnificent Freshwater System

The five Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair are the greatest surface freshwater system on Planet Earth.  This freshwater must be protected and not drained away from their watersheds. It is important to keep these lakes intact. The people and ecosystems of plants and animals of North America, the United States and Canada depend on it.

The five Great Lakes are connected, a flowing system of freshwater:  Lake Superior, the highest, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron geologically one lake since they are at the same sea level. Lake Erie the shallowest and the waters tumble over Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario.  These lakes flow into each other following gravity until their waters run out the St. Lawrence River and then to the Atlantic Ocean.

These lakes are connected through rivers: The St. Mary’s River, The St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and they reach the St. Lawrence River where they flow into the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

           

Some call the Great Lakes the freshwater seas or the inland seas because they are so large they behave more like oceans than lakes.  Their water is vitally important to all of us for transportation, drinking water, agriculture, wild life and sport fishing.

On the map below notice the states and provinces in Canada that surround these Lakes. Their watersheds are green on the map.  Quebec and Ontario are Canada’s Great Lakes’ provinces and Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York are all Great Lakes states. Lake Michigan is the only state entirely enclosed by the United States.  Notice the dotted lines going through each Great Lake except Lake Michigan.  These lines show where the lakes’ waters are divided between the U.S. and Canada.

This is important to know if you have a fishing license only for one side or the other.