Onondaga Lake
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Onondaga Lake is northwest of the city of Syracuse, New York and south of Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes. Water outflows from the lake to Lake Ontario through the Oswego River. The lake is five miles (8 kilometers) long and a mile (1.5 kilometers) wide. It has an area of 4.6 square miles (11.9 square kilometers) and has a maximum depth of 64 feet (19.5 meters). It is considered one of the minor Finger Lakes.
Around 1450 or possibly earlier, Onondaga Lake was the site of the founding of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. Historically, the lake and the surrounding area was a site of salt springs and later salt mining.
Onondaga Lake is a severely polluted lake, primarally due to industrial dumping. It's advised not to fish or swim in the lake. The lake has high levels of mercury, salt, phosphorus, and ammonia. The EPA has declared it a hazardous waste site. Recently, an effort has been made to clean up the water in the lake.