[19] The shallowest section of Lake Erie is the western basin where depths average only 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m); as a result, "the slightest breeze can kick up lively waves", also known as seiches.

He neared the Canada shore a little below Long Point ... he was accordingly driven towards Buffalo ... Night was drawing on and it became apparent that he could not, with this current, get away from the water before dark, and after nightfall it would not be safe to come down.

Business boomed; in 1901, the Carnegie Company proposed building a new harbor near Erie, Pennsylvania, in Elk Creek to accommodate shipments from its tube-plant site nearby.

Large, opulent cruise liners carried passengers between Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and other cities on the lake until the rise of the automobile in the 1950s drastically cut demand for their services.

[51] During the Prohibition years from 1919 to 1933, a "great deal of alcohol crossed Erie"[21] along with "mobster corpses" dumped into the Detroit River which sometimes washed up on the beaches of Pelee Island.

This frictional convergence creates lift and enhances snowfall.Heavy lake-effect snowfalls can occur when cold air travels 60 miles (97 km) or longer over a large unfrozen lake.

[65] In January 2011, for example, residents of Cleveland were glad when Lake Erie was "90 percent frozen" since it meant that the area had "made it over the hump" in terms of enduring repeated snowfalls which required much shoveling.

[70] A plan by Samsung to build an offshore wind farm on the north shore of the lake, from Port Maitland to Nanticoke for a distance of 15.5 mi (24.9 km),[71] has been met with opposition from residents.

[81] An ongoing concern is that nutrient overloading from fertilizers and human and animal waste, known as eutrophication, in which additional nitrogen and phosphorus enter the lake, will cause plant life to "run wild and multiply like crazy".

One recent account suggests that the seasonal algal blooms in Lake Erie were possibly caused by runoff from cities, fertilizers, zebra mussels, and livestock near water.

[77] Another report cites Ohio's Maumee River as the main source of polluted runoff of phosphorus from industries, municipalities, tributaries and agriculture, and in 2008, satellite images showed the algal bloom heading toward Pelee Island.

[77] Two two-year, $2 million studies are trying to understand the "growing zone", which was described as a 10-foot-thick layer of cold water at the bottom, 55 feet (17 m) in one area, which stretches 100 miles [160 km] across the lake's center.

[88] A large bloom does not necessarily mean the cyanobacteria ... will produce toxins", said Michael McKay, executive director of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor.

[90] At that time, satellite images depicted a bloom stretching up to 1,300 square kilometres (500 sq mi) on Lake Erie, with the epicenter near Toledo, Ohio.

[94] Biologist Masteller of Pennsylvania State University declared the insects to be a "nice nuisance" since they signified the lake's return to health after 40 years of absence.

[52] The outlook was gloomy: Each day, Detroit, Cleveland and 120 other municipalities fill Erie with 1.5 billion US gallons [5.7 million cubic metres] of "inadequately treated wastes, including nitrates and phosphates ...

In short, Lake Erie is in danger of dying by suffocation.In December 1970, a federal grand jury investigation led by U.S. Attorney Robert Jones began, of water pollution allegedly being caused by about 12 companies in northeastern Ohio.

Facing fines were Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., Shell Oil Co., Uniroyal Chemical Division of Uniroyal Inc. and Olin Corp.[103] United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell gave a press conference December 18, 1970, referencing new pollution control litigation, with particular reference to work with the Environmental Protection Agency, and announcing the filing of a lawsuit that morning against the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation for discharging substantial quantities of cyanide into the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland.

[110] Cleanup efforts were described in 1979 as a notable environmental success story, suggesting that the cumulative effect of legislation, studies, and bans had reversed the effects of pollution:[110] The globs of oil, the multicolored industrial discharges, the flotsam from shoreline cities, the fecal and bacterial wastes are no longer dumped in the lakes in vast quantities.Joint U.S.–Canadian agreements pushed 600 of 864 major industrial dischargers to meet requirements for keeping the water clean.

There was a tentative exploratory plan to capture CO2, compress it to a liquid form, and pump it a half-mile (800 m) beneath Lake Erie's surface underneath the porous rock structure.

[111] According to chemical engineer Peter Douglas, there is sufficient storage space beneath Lake Erie to hold between 15 and 50 years of liquid CO2 emissions from the 4,000 megawatt Nanticoke coal plant.

[121] The analysis suggests that in the Lake Erie context, the competition between sport and commercial fishing involves universals and that these conflicts are cultural, not scientific, and therefore not resolvable by reference to ecological data.

In a 2009 incident, warming temperatures, winds of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) and currents pushing eastward dislodged a miles-wide ice floe which broke away from the shore, trapping more than 130 fishermen offshore; one man died while the rest were rescued by helicopters or boats.

When the rescued fishermen made it to shore, authorities had them line up single-file to take down their names.The lake's formerly more extensive lakebed creates a favorable environment for agriculture in the bordering areas of Ontario, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York.

[131] Among the diving community, they are considered world class, offering opportunities to visit an underwater museum that most people will never see.In 1991, the 19th-century paddle steamer Atlantic was discovered.

[38] In 2007, the wreck of the steamship named after "Mad" Anthony Wayne was found near Vermilion, Ohio, in 50 feet (15 m) of water; the vessel sank in 1850 after its boilers exploded, and 38 people died.

[138] In southern Michigan, Sterling State Park has campgrounds, 1,300 acres (530 ha) for hiking, biking, fishing, boating, with a sand beach for sunbathing, swimming, and picnicking.

[139] In 1997, The New York Times reporter Donna Marchetti took a bike tour around the Lake Erie perimeter, traveling 40 miles (64 km) per day and staying at bed and breakfasts.

[141] In 2008, 14-year-old Jade Scognamillo swam from New York's Sturgeon Point to Ontario's Crystal Beach and completed the 11.9-mile (19.2-km) swim in five hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds, and became the youngest swimmer to make the crossing.

A lighthouse off the coast of Cleveland, beset with cold lake winter spray, has an unusual artistic icy shape, although sometimes ice prevents the light from being seen by maritime vessels.