Great Lakes, USA

I’m Joan Rose, I’m a professor at Michigan State University. I hold the Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research.

When I first came up the Great Lakes, I was visiting the Milwaukee as an outbreak of cryptosporidium and I was really focused on the people and how they got sick from contaminated water in the lake, but as I started exploring the shoreline, I’ve just been amazed by all of the lakes. The sand dunes and the beautiful beaches, going out on fishing tours — you know I was in Florida before — and you get out on the lake it's amazing how big they are. You don’t realize how big they are until you’re on the water and you cannot see that shoreline. Freshwater smells different than marine water, so when you’re out on the Great Lakes, you can tell its a whole different environment, even just by the smell and the look of the beauty of the water.