<P> The water level of Lake Michigan--Huron had remained fairly constant over the 20th century, but has nevertheless dropped more than 6 feet from the record high in 1986 to the low of 2013 . One newspaper reported that the long - term average level has gone down about 20 inches because of dredging and subsequent erosion in the St. Clair River . Lake Michigan--Huron hit all - time record low levels in 2013; according to the US Army Corps of Engineers, the previous record low had been set in 1964 . By April 2015 the water level had recovered to 7 inches (17.5 cm) more than the "long term monthly average". </P> <Dl> <Dt> Lake Erie </Dt> <Dd> From the Erie tribe, a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan "long tail". </Dd> <Dt> Lake Huron </Dt> <Dd> The native Wyandot originally referred to the lake by the name karegnondi, a word which has been variously translated as "Freshwater Sea", "Lake of the Hurons", or simply "lake". The first French explorers in the area named the lake after the inhabitants of the area, the Wyandot or "Hurons". </Dd> <Dt> Lake Michigan </Dt> <Dd> From the Ojibwa word mishi - gami "great water" or "large lake". </Dd> <Dt> Lake Ontario </Dt> <Dd> From the Wyandot (Huron) word ontarí'io "lake of shining waters". </Dd> <Dt> Lake Superior </Dt> <Dd> English translation of the French term lac supérieur "upper lake", referring to its position north of Lake Huron . The indigenous Ojibwe call it gichi - gami (from Ojibwe gichi "big, large, great"; gami "water, lake, sea"). Popularized in French - influenced transliteration as Gitchigumi as in Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 story song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, or Gitchee Gumee as in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha). </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> From the Erie tribe, a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan "long tail". </Dd> <Dd> The native Wyandot originally referred to the lake by the name karegnondi, a word which has been variously translated as "Freshwater Sea", "Lake of the Hurons", or simply "lake". The first French explorers in the area named the lake after the inhabitants of the area, the Wyandot or "Hurons". </Dd>

Who owns the water in the great lakes