Ohio Outdoors: Water, water everywhere

It’s summer, and despite the recent weather, millions of local residents and visitors are preparing to enjoy time in, on, and by the water. In Ohio, we are blessed with a variety of waterways, both natural and man-made, fresh water and salt water. In fact, water covers nearly 4,000 square miles (8.8%) of Ohio’s surface area. Portage County has it all from natural lakes and streams to canals and reservoirs, marshes, bogs and more. It boasts almost 1,500 acres of natural lakes making it the county with the highest area of lake coverage in the Buckeye State. 

By definition, a lake is a body of water large enough to have different temperature zones and wide enough to have wave action. The Buckeye State has 110 natural lakes each 5 acres or larger. These lakes were carved out of the land by glaciers during the last ice age.