11. Onondaga Lake, New York
Once ignobly hailed as the most polluted lake in the nation, Onondaga Lake is making a slow but steady comeback thanks to the EPA. Listed as a Superfund site in 1994, the lake drew attention not just for its history of industrial pollution but for its potential to spill that pollution all over the nearby water system and residential areas. The cocktail of pollution ranged from mercury and pesticides to good old fashioned human sewage. Between 2012 and 2014 alone, the EPA’s designated “responsible parties” — those who polluted the lake — dredged and removed 2.2 million cubic yards of contamination from the lakebed.
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