About LakeQuality
How clean is your lake?
What we do
LakeQuality grades every lake it has data for on clarity, nutrients, and safety so swimmers and anglers know before they go.
We focus on U.S. lake and freshwater quality. Every page on lakequality.org is built from the EPA Water Quality Portal, cited and linkable so readers can trace any number back to its source.
Who this is for
LakeQuality is built for swimmers, anglers, cabin owners, and state environmental agencies.
Why this exists
Public data on U.S. lake and freshwater quality is technically free, but practically locked behind file formats, acronyms, and paywalled dashboards. LakeQualityexists to close that gap: take the raw federal and public-sector data, and turn it into pages a normal person can read in thirty seconds.
How we work
- Primary source only. We pull from the EPA Water Quality Portal and cite the exact dataset and version on every page.
- No invented numbers. If a figure is not in the underlying public data, it does not appear on lakequality.org. We never generate synthetic statistics to fill gaps.
- Refreshed on a schedule. Data is refetched on a published cadence — you can see the "Last updated" date on every dataset page.
- Corrections welcome. Readers flag issues all the time. When the source fixes a record, LakeQuality follows.
Independence
LakeQuality is an independent publication. We are not funded, owned, or directed by any of the agencies, companies, or organizations that appear in our data. Hosting is paid for by advertising — see our Privacy Policy for details — and we do not take paid placements, sponsored rankings, or "remove-my-entry" fees.
History
LakeQuality launched in 2025 as part of a small portfolio of independent public-data sites. It has been maintained and updated continuously since.
Contact
Tips, corrections, data-partnership questions, and press inquiries: [email protected]. More options on our contact page.