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The City of Greater Sudbury contains a greater number and diversity of lakes than any other city in Canada. Approximately 12% of the 3637 km (super 2) area of the City of Greater Sudbury is occupied by 330 lakes, each over 10 ha. Most owe their location to the action of Pleistocene ice sheets that carried away the soil and scoured basins in the bedrock as they advanced, and then, as the ice melted, left behind dams of rock debris. Other lakes are variously controlled by other features: 2 possible meteorite impact craters; numerous faults and folds; a meandering, oxbow-forming river; man-made dams and water-filled abandoned pits. Sudbury's lakes not only provide essential services such as drinking water and effluent disposal, but also create an impressive recreational and aesthetic asset that shapes the culture of the community. Unfortunately, a long history of industrial pollution, inadequate sewage disposal systems, urban runoff and a lack of public understanding about the impact of lakeshore development have seriously degraded many lakes. Most industrial contamination has been caused by widespread atmospheric deposition of acid-forming compounds and metallic particles from Sudbury's smelter stacks. Additional local effects have arisen from acidic and metal-rich runoff from tailings and waste rock. Fortunately, containment and treatment of mine-site wastewater has greatly improved and, more importantly, smelter stack emissions have been reduced by nearly 90% since 1970. Several modern sewage treatment plants have also been built. As a result of all these beneficial changes, many damaged lakes and their ecosystems are slowly recovering. However, other problems created by storm water discharges, nutrient enrichment, shoreline and watershed alteration, waste disposal, littering, and the introduction and invasion of exotic animal and plant species are serious in some lakes. Furthermore, impending global climate warming will complicate the recovery from acid precipitation and metal contamination, perhaps even reversing the trend toward biological improvements. Public and political awareness of the need to be active in protecting lakewater quality in Sudbury is growing and a water quality protection and improvement program, involving widespread monitoring and lake stewardship groups, is underway.

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GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geological Institute.<br/>2004-050606