What is the condition of Lake Ontario?
Lake Ontario is the most downstream of the five Great Lakes. As such it drains a watershed of almost 300,000 square miles across much of the north central United States and south central Canada. Excluding the drainage area of the other Great Lakes, the Lake Ontario watershed is 24,720 square miles in size. Water quality conditions in Lake Ontario are highly variable. Although water quality in the open waters of the Lake has greatly improved in recent decades, the near shore areas are still degraded. The Rochester Embayment (that area of Lake Ontario formed by the indentation of the Monroe County shoreline between Bogus Point in the town of Parma and Nine Mile Point in the town of Webster) has long been an area of concern for poor water quality.
