Troubled Lake Erie is being transformed into a vast water research facility

An aerial view of downtown Cleveland, Ohio, with Lake Erie in the background. Photograph: Aerial Archives/Alamy

There was a time in the 1960s that the lakes and rivers around Cleveland were so polluted with petrochemicals and other contaminants that they frequently caught on fire.

While water quality on Lake Erie today has improved since the days of it being used as a large-scale industrial dumping ground for steel mills and chemical plants, it still struggles with poor water quality.