Lake Huron provides opportunities for swimming and recreational use. It remains healthy despite nearshore algal blooms.

  • A cup with water in it. The caption reads “Be a source of safe, high quality drinking water”. The lake icon is green, indicating a status of Good.

    Be a source of safe, high quality drinking water.

  • A person swimming at the surface of the water with their arm over their head. The caption reads “Allow for unrestricted swimming and other recreational use”. The lake icon is green, indicating a status of Good.

    Allow for unrestricted swimming and other recreational use

  • A fish mid-jump. The caption reads “Allow for unrestricted human consumption of the fish and wildlife”. The lake icon is green, indicating a status of Good.

    Allow for unrestricted human consumption of the fish and wildlife

  • An industrial complex with smoke coming out of smokestacks. The caption reads “Be free from pollutants that could harm people, wildlife, or organisms”. The lake icon is yellow, indicating a status of Fair.

    Be free from pollutants that could harm people, wildlife, or organisms

  • A heron standing next to some trees. The caption reads “Support healthy and productive habitats to sustain our native species”. The lake icon is yellow, indicating a status of Fair.

    Support healthy and productive habitats to sustain our native species

  • Two microorganisms next to each other. The caption reads “Be free from nutrients that promote unsightly or toxic blooms”. The lake icon is yellow, indicating a status of Fair.

    Be free from nutrients that promote unsightly or toxic blooms

  • An invasive Carp and two dreissenid mussels with invasive Phragmites in the background. The caption reads “Be free from aquatic and terrestrial invasive species”. The lake icon is red on the left and green on the right, indicating a status of Poor to Good.

    Be free from aquatic and terrestrial invasive species

  • A pump with water dripping into cup. The caption reads “Be free from the harmful impacts of contaminated groundwater”. The lake icon is green, indicating a status of Good.

    Be free from the harmful impacts of contaminated groundwater

  • Be free from other substances, materials, or conditions that may negatively affect the Great Lakes

Status legend: Good (green), fair (yellow), poor (red)

Lake Huron continues to be a good source for producing high-quality drinking water. Toxic chemicals monitored in Lake Huron are assessed as Fair and long-term trends indicate that concentrations are declining in monitored media. Lake Huron fish continue to be a nutritious food source, although restrictions on the consumption of certain species of fish continue to be advised due to contaminant levels in fish fillets that exceed benchmarks.

Lake Huron’s beaches and nearshore waters provide good opportunities for swimming and other recreational uses. Offshore phosphorus concentrations declined significantly in the 1990s and 2000s but have since stabilized and are considered to be Fair with an Unchanging trend. Cladophora levels are generally low in Lake Huron, although some areas of the lake such as the southern end of Georgian Bay and Saginaw Bay are prone to nuisance algal growth. The current status of algal bloom extent in Lake Huron is Fair with No Trend, with most impairments occurring in Saginaw Bay.

Lake Huron coastal wetlands account for approximately 30% of the total wetland area for all five Great Lakes. Coastal wetland conditions range from Fair to Good, with generally better conditions in the northern regions. Agricultural and land use stressors, such as runoff, are more common in the southern part of the basin and contribute to coastal wetland degradation. Fish-eating and colonial-nesting waterbirds are assessed as Poor due to lower than desired populations of most monitored species and populations. Walleye and Lake Trout populations are assessed as Fair and their trends are Improving and Unchanging, respectively. The Lake Huron assessment for the Impacts of Invasive Species sub-indicator is Poor. This status is due in large part to the impact of filter-feeding Quagga Mussels which are the primary cause of lower productivity in offshore waters and localized nuisance algae growth in nearshore waters. Between-lake spread of aquatic non-native species is also increasing, as the range of new non-native species has expanded into Lake Huron from other Great Lakes over the last decade.

Groundwater quality is assessed as Good based on nitrate and chloride concentration data. Shoreline hardening continues to increase in Lake Huron. As in the other lakes, surface water temperatures are increasing while winter ice cover is decreasing.

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