Great Lakes in the Regional Context

I learned that our river undercuts its banks and is quite a bit nastier looking than I thought.  I also learned that the reason it looks so nasty is because there's clay in the water which makes it look an awful brown color.  Our q-value was 98.  The overall q-value was 85.64.  I did not expect this...mainly because I've always assumed our river was nasty.  Our action project will help the river by preventing erosion where the compost is placed.  Not to mention, if we use compost instead of chemical fertilizers then we can avoid having said fertilizer washed into the river by the rain.

The biggest lake is Lake Superior.  The smallest is Lake Erie.

The most urban lake is Lake Erie.  The most rural lake is Lake Superior.

The lake with the longest shoreline is Lake Huron.

We can best manage the ecosystem by applying ecological principles to decisions regarding use of the lakes for economic development purposes.

One pollutant that pertains to my action project is fertilizers.  These fertilizers can be harmful to aquatic life.  Alternately, they can be too good for aquatic life and cause an algal bloom which will use all the oxygen in the water and kill life off that way.  Another pollutant is sediments.  Sediments are particles of soil, sand, silt, clay, and minerals which have been eroded off whatever they were part of and have since found their way into the river. They suffocate fish and shellfish by covering fish nests and clogging the gills of bottom fish and shell fish.

1.  The water from my house goes into a septic tank which is routinely emptied and the waste taken to a water treatment plant. 
2.  Runoff water is water which does not soak into the ground and just travels along on top, picking up sediments and other such pollutants on the way.  It ends up draining into the lakes and rivers.
3.  Runoff water and sewer water do not go to the same place.  It should as that would allow the runoff water to get cleaned at the same time as the sewer water and prevent all the extras in the runoff from making their way into the river ecosystems.
4.  Sources of pollution in runoff water are gardens, lawns, septic tanks, and parking lots/roads.
5.  Point pollution is different from non-point pollution in that point pollution is directly dumped into the water while non-point is picked up on accident.
6.  A watershed is an area where all the water in said area drains to the same place.