Butte County Lake Quality

The county-level average smooths over real differences — a single agricultural watershed near the southwest corner can pull the average down even if the rest of the county runs clean. 1 of those lake carry recent nutrient and algae readings. The county-level summary describes that subset, not every water body listed. Taken together, the monitored lakes of Butte County sit near the low-nutrient end of the California range.

The county's lakes lean shallow, which makes the readings sensitive to wind, sediment-resuspension, and any nutrient inputs from the watershed. The cleanest measured lake is Lake Oroville.