What's the wost that could happen from swimming in a dirty or polluted lake?

Question

Like lake Erie which is where the beach I'm going to tomorrow is but is there something I should be warned about? Like not staying in too long? What's the worst that could happen that people are so scared of swimming in it?

Answer 1

u get really really sick from it and ur body can't fight then most likely u will die

Answer 2

dieases infections could relate to death and thats bad enough

Answer 3

Hepatitis, but If that were a real threat the department of health would shut down the beach. Relax and enjoy.

Answer 4

The worst is death from a toxic metal or from some bacterial or viral pollution in the lake water that leads to a fatal illness. The latter would be most likely for someone who is immunocompromised (has AIDS or is on chemotherapy, for example). Neither kind of death is too likely from a swim in lake Erie, but you could get a skin rash, a viral infection with cold-like symptoms, or stomach problems from contact with polluted water.

Answer 5

Excerpt from Wikipaedia. Ecology section:

During the 1960s and 1970s, Lake Erie experienced changes in water quality associated with increasing levels of the nutrient phosphorus in the water and bottom sediments. The result was eutrophication [an increase in chemical nutrients] of the system which resulted in major changes in productivity. Algal blooms formed by the high nitrogen levels in the water. The decomposition of algae led to extensive seasonal anoxic areas in the lake (the so-called dead zone), that were expanding rapidly in the early 1970s. The decomposing algal masses and associated fish kills fouled shorelines, contributing to the widespread impression of Lake Erie as a dead lake.

A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced the dumping and runoff of phosphorus into the lake significantly. A dead zone persists in the central Lake Erie basin during the late summer. The United States Environmental Protection Agency is currently studying this cyclic phenomenon.