St. Mary Parish County Lake Quality

St. Mary Parish County holds 6 monitored lakes. With a sample that small the county-level summary describes those specific waters, not necessarily every water body in the county. Every one of those lakes carries recent nutrient and algae readings, so the county-level summary covers the full set rather than a monitored subset. The monitored lakes here are mostly shallow, productive basins where summer algae is common; each lake page shows its own readings beside the EPA condition class.

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 Palourde East of Morgan City.