If you're headed to the lake this weekend, you may want to consider the water quality.

If you're headed to the lake or river this weekend, you may want to consider the water quality before going for a swim.

Captain Experiences, a website dedicated to finding places for people to hunt swim and fish, just released a new report looking at water pollution across the United States and their findings show that Indiana has many bodies of water that are not safe enough for swimming.

Here's what to know.

Polluted water is a national problem

According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over 70% of freshwater lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and wetlands (by acreage) and over 42% of creeks, rivers, and streams (by mileage) in the U.S. are considered too polluted for primary contact recreation, such as swimming.

On average, there are nearly 35,000 waterborne illness cases caused by recreational water use in the U.S. every year, the study stated.

What about the Clean Water Act?

Under the Clean Water Act that was established in 1972, each state is supposed to assess all of its recreational-use lakes and rivers for impairments—to determine whether a body of water is polluted by various sources such as industrial waste, sewage or agricultural runoff, rendering it unsuitable for its designated uses.

The CWA has fallen short of its goal to make 100% of U.S. waters “fishable and swimmable,” in large part due to inefficient and insufficient water quality monitoring, the study states.

How many states test the water quality?

According to the report, the most recent figures show that only 19 states assessed 50% of both their lakes and rivers for primary water contact recreation, which includes swimming.

How is water quality for swimming tested per state?

In order to determine the states with the worst water quality for swimming, researchers calculated the percentage of total acreage or mileage of assessed, untreated waters that were too polluted for swimming.

States assess two different categories of recreational-use water bodies: (1) Lakes, ponds, reservoirs and wetlands; and (2) creeks, rivers and streams.

• Nationally, by acreage, 77.4% of lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and wetlands have been adequately assessed for primary water contact impairments. Of those, 70.6% were found to be unsuitable for swimming.
• Nationally, by mileage, only 37.3% of creeks, rivers, and streams have been adequately assessed for primary water contact impairments. Of those, 42.4% were found to be unsuitable for swimming.

Things to do:Get outdoors this weekend and enjoy all Mother Nature has to offer across Indiana

Is it safe to swim in Indiana waters?

Many of Indiana's bodies of water have not been assessed, but here's what we know about the ones that have:

• Indiana has assessed only 14.0% of its recreational-use lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and wetlands. Of those assessed waters, 23.3% were found to be too polluted for swimming.

• Indiana has assessed 53.6% of its recreational-use creeks, rivers, and streams. Of those assessed waters, 73.4% were found to be too polluted for swimming.

It is up to each individual to decide whether or not they want to swim in Indiana waters and risk catching a waterborne illness.

Others are reading:Indiana lawmakers stripped protections for wetlands. Here's why that matters to other states

Katie Wiseman is a trending news intern at IndyStar. Contact her at klwiseman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @itskatiewiseman.