My Watermark is the Great Lakes, ON.

The Great Lakes consist of Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Erie. Collectively, they make up the largest body of fresh water on Earth, accounting for one-fifth of the freshwater surface (covering roughly 246,463 km^2) and approximately 6 quadrillion gallons of volume. They are filled with a large variety of species of fish which I have fished for before, including Atlantic Salmon, Bluegill and Brook Trout.

These bodies of water are of importance to me because these are the waters that surround my home. I have also watched beautiful sunsets and sunrises glisten over the surface of the waters, fished with my father and swam quite a bit in them. My grandfather has a cottage on Lake Erie and the water is visibly different in colour and more polluted more than it was 5 years ago. If this discoloration continues, it honestly will no longer be appealing to me to even put my feet into what was once a beautiful body of water. I’ve had the privilege of swimming in the Lake on my grandfather’s cottage since I was a child and still thoroughly enjoy this activity. I would hate to lose the ability to do this.

The Great Lakes face contemporary challenges regarding their levels of pollution. If we continue to pollute and exploit them, then we may render them unusable. Residents who have cottages on these Great Lakes (such as my grandfather) who own motor-powered boats pollute the water every time they ride on it. They are beautiful bodies of water that we must take care of. If we fail to preserve these waters, we will be unable to use them for fun recreational activities such as swimming and fishing in them, and we may render them unusable enough to be unable to drink out of them. Even with these issues at hand, we continue to dump toxic waste and dump garbage into them, and every time we flush our toilets, that waste goes straight to the Great Lakes. For what reasons do Canadians take these bodies of water for granted? When will we realize how precious they truly are to us?