 Lake Superior, the world's largest body of fresh water, was down a metre, a sight we witnessed many times during that long hot summer of 1998. It has been industrialized for so long that over half the fish are extinct and you get a rash when you swim in it. Over 360 chemicals have been found in the Great Lakes: alkylated lead, P.C.B.'s, D.D.T., mercury, benzo(a)pyrene and myrex, just to name a few. Toxaphene, a U.S. insecticide, is a major problem in Lake Superior; they have even found pesticides from Asia in the water. Of the almost 10 million chemicals known today, 100,000 chemicals are used commercially. Over 10,000 new chemicals are created each week. Many of these chmicals are toxic even in minute amounts. From processing to usage, they eventually seep into our water and alter its composition. A car coming off the assembly line takes 80,000 litres of water to make it's ton of steel, and another 40,000 litres are used in it's fabrication process. Thousands more litres are involved in the manufacture of plastics, glass and fabric components.* Ontario Fish Facts gave out warnings, with certain restrictions: Don't eat large predator fish such as northern pike, wall-eye, larger bass, regardless of location. Don't eat rainbow trout larger than 40 cm. from Lake Superior. When they give you a list of allowable parts per million that you can afford to consume, one realizes that the Ministry of Environment monitors water toxicity rather than the health and purity of our sources and our nation. *italicized section paraphrased from Enviroment Canada information pamphlets |