What is the cleanest lake in Missouri?

Sherwood Lake in Warren County has the cleanest nutrient and algae readings in Missouri, with 5.9 feet of measured water clarity.

How are these rankings calculated?

Nutrients and algae, total phosphorus, nitrogen, chlorophyll-a and turbidity, are read against EPA National Lakes Assessment 2022 condition classes for that lake’s ecoregion. Water clarity (Secchi depth) is measured and shown separately. Lakes without enough recent samples are listed without a condition class rather than ranked low. Source data comes from the EPA Water Quality Portal.

Cleanest Lakes in Missouri

Sherwood Lake in Warren County leads the rankings on measured clarity and nutrients and 5.9 ft of clarity. Below are the top 50 cleanest monitored lakes in Missouri, ranked on EPA nutrient and algae measurements.

Ranked List

#	Lake	County	Clarity	Phosphorus	Algae
1	Sherwood Lake	Warren	5.9 ft	14.3 µg/L	4.4 µg/L
2	Fox Valley Lake	Clark	8.5 ft	16.5 µg/L	3.6 µg/L
3	Bull Shoals Lake	Taney	8.1 ft	10 µg/L	4 µg/L
4	Lake Shayne-Terre du Lac Lakes	Washington	11.1 ft	5.2 µg/L	1.2 µg/L
5	Lake Konstanz	Warren	7.7 ft	7 µg/L	1.6 µg/L
6	Lake Capri	St. Francois	16.3 ft	5.7 µg/L	0.9 µg/L
7	Innsbrook Lake	Warren	5.2 ft	17 µg/L	5 µg/L
8	Weatherby Lake	Platte	6.2 ft	16 µg/L	5.9 µg/L
9	Table Rock L. Ab. Carter Br. Lake	Barry	6.8 ft	8.5 µg/L	4.3 µg/L
10	Council Bluff Lake	Iron	13.1 ft	5.7 µg/L	1.3 µg/L
11	Bowling Green Lake	Pike	5.5 ft	24.6 µg/L	5.1 µg/L
12	Lake Taneycomo	Taney	8.9 ft	15.8 µg/L	1.2 µg/L
13	Lake Taneycomo	Taney	12.6 ft	14.5 µg/L	0.9 µg/L
14	Lake Wauwanoka	Jefferson	12.9 ft	8 µg/L	1.7 µg/L
15	Fellows Lake	Greene	7.2 ft	11.8 µg/L	3.4 µg/L
16	Alpine Lake	Warren	12.6 ft	7 µg/L	1.5 µg/L
17	Castlenovo Lake	Warren	6 ft	16.8 µg/L	2.9 µg/L
18	Aspen Lake Along Southern Arm	Warren	3.8 ft	20.8 µg/L	5.3 µg/L
19	Timberline Lakes	St. Francois	14.3 ft	5.5 µg/L	1.6 µg/L
20	Lincoln Lake	Lincoln	5.7 ft	12.7 µg/L	3.6 µg/L
21	Lake Buteo	Johnson	5.6 ft	20 µg/L	4 µg/L
22	Lake Taneycomo Ab. Bee Cr. Arm	Taney	13.3 ft	13 µg/L	1.1 µg/L
23	Brookfield Lake	Linn	4.4 ft	19.7 µg/L	4.9 µg/L
24	Rock Lake Village Lake	Johnson	4.3 ft	16 µg/L	4.8 µg/L
25	Seetal Lake	Gasconade	7.2 ft	17 µg/L	5.9 µg/L
26	Finger Lakes	Boone	7.9 ft	16.5 µg/L	6.1 µg/L
27	Fourche Creek Lake	Ripley	13.6 ft	9.1 µg/L	1.2 µg/L
28	Ripley County Lake	Ripley	6.6 ft	10.7 µg/L	2.3 µg/L
29	Lake Nehai Tonkayea	Chariton	8 ft	10 µg/L	1.3 µg/L
30	Lake Marie	Mercer	7.8 ft	13 µg/L	2.7 µg/L
31	Goose Creek Lake	Ste. Genevieve	9.9 ft	9.5 µg/L	2 µg/L
32	Crystal-Morgan Lake	Morgan	6.2 ft	15.5 µg/L	3.1 µg/L
33	Lake Taneycomo	Taney	3.3 ft	18 µg/L	3.2 µg/L
34	Forest Lake Se Branch	Adair	2.3 ft	25 µg/L	9.3 µg/L
35	Jacomo Lake	Jackson	3.3 ft	20.5 µg/L	13.6 µg/L
36	Lotawana Lake	Jackson	4.6 ft	31 µg/L	12.4 µg/L
37	Phillips Lake	Boone	2.8 ft	35.5 µg/L	8.8 µg/L
38	Waukomis Lake	Platte	4.7 ft	26 µg/L	7.2 µg/L
39	Bethel Lake	Boone	2.2 ft	32.7 µg/L	9.5 µg/L
40	Crow Pond	Callaway	4.1 ft	36.6 µg/L	9.6 µg/L
41	Clearwater Lake	Reynolds	1.8 ft	31.3 µg/L	5.8 µg/L
42	Hunnewell Lake	Shelby	3.2 ft	36 µg/L	15.4 µg/L
43	Long Branch Lake	Macon	1.8 ft	43.5 µg/L	16.1 µg/L
44	Table Rock L. Lake	Barry	5.5 ft	10.3 µg/L	6.1 µg/L
45	Lost Valley Lake	Gasconade	3.9 ft	22.7 µg/L	6.6 µg/L
46	Table Rock Lake	Barry	3.3 ft	30.5 µg/L	6.5 µg/L
47	Sugar Hollow Lake	Warren	3.3 ft	38 µg/L	15.4 µg/L
48	Port Hudson Lake	Franklin	6.1 ft	20.8 µg/L	7.5 µg/L
49	Pomme de Terre L. Central Arm Lake	Hickory	3 ft	30.5 µg/L	11.8 µg/L
50	L Ste Louise Lake	St. Charles	3.2 ft	33.5 µg/L	17.2 µg/L

Ranked List

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