Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is surrounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the American state of New York, whose water boundaries meet in the middle of the lake. Severe algal blooms which became common in the 1960’s and 1970’s have now reduced but eutrophication is an ongoing concern to researchers and regulatory bodies. Description: Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot (Huron) language, ontarío means “Lake of Shining Waters”. Its primary inlet is the Niagara River from Lake Erie. The last in the Great Lakes chain, Lake Ontario serves as the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River.
Algae are the basis of the open water food web, and the source of primary production that ends up as Lake Trout and Walleye at the top of the open water food web. However, this food web has been damaged not only by over-fishing, and changes in nutrient levels, but also by other types of pollution from industrial chemicals, agricultural fertilizers, untreated sewage, phosphates, such as from laundry detergents, and chemicals. Some pollutant chemicals that have been found in the lake include DDT, benzo[a]pyrene and other pesticides; PCBs, aramite, chromium, lead, mirex, mercury, and carbon tetrachloride. The International Joint Commission has identified areas where pollution is particularly intense (point sources) and mapped them as Areas of Concern. A Remedial Action Plan has been developed for each area. Some Lake Ontario areas of concern include the Oswego River and Rochester Embayment on the American side, and Hamilton Harbour and Toronto on the Canadian Side.
By the 1960s and 1970s, the increased pollution caused frequent algal blooms to occur in the summer. These blooms killed large numbers of fish, and left decomposing piles of filamentous algae and dead fish along the shores. At times the blooms became so thick that waves could not break. Fish eating birds such as osprey, bald eagle and cormorant were being poisoned by contaminated fish. Since the 1960s and 1970s, environmental concerns have forced a cleanup of industrial and municipal wastes. Cleanup has been accomplished through better treatment plants, tighter environmental regulations, deindustrialization and increased public awareness. Today, Lake Ontario has recovered some of its pristine quality.
(Source Wikipedia)
This model grid contains 5,127 cells, and is a Cartesian grid, with effectively zero orthogonal deviation. This grid was built using EFDC+ Explorer and Grid+.
