What is the cleanest lake in Nebraska?

Lake C W Mcconaughy in Keith County has the cleanest nutrient and algae readings in Nebraska, with 7.2 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 Nebraska

Lake C W Mcconaughy in Keith County leads the rankings on measured clarity and nutrients and 7.2 ft of clarity. Below are the top 37 cleanest monitored lakes in Nebraska, ranked on EPA nutrient and algae measurements.

Ranked List

#	Lake	County	Clarity	Phosphorus	Algae
1	Lake C W Mcconaughy	Keith	7.2 ft	57.6 µg/L	6.9 µg/L
2	Sherman Reservoir	Sherman	2.4 ft	99.7 µg/L	4.4 µg/L
3	Lake Minatare	Scotts Bluff	5.5 ft	52.4 µg/L	2.8 µg/L
4	Hershey Lake	Lincoln	13.6 ft	51.4 µg/L	2.1 µg/L
5	Bridgeport Middle Lake	Morrill	18.9 ft	-	2 µg/L
6	Hugh Butler Lake	Frontier	2.8 ft	82.9 µg/L	5.9 µg/L
7	Calamus Reservoir	Garfield	3.6 ft	124.5 µg/L	26.1 µg/L
8	Cub Creek Lake	Keya Paha	4.9 ft	48.1 µg/L	8.4 µg/L
9	Lake Maloney	Lincoln	2.1 ft	47.8 µg/L	10.2 µg/L
10	Merritt Reservoir	Cherry	2 ft	147 µg/L	92.1 µg/L
11	Pelican Lake	Cherry	1.2 ft	210 µg/L	88.9 µg/L
12	Oliver Reservoir	Kimball	1.7 ft	71.8 µg/L	7.9 µg/L
13	Smith Lake	Sheridan	1.7 ft	248 µg/L	56.1 µg/L
14	Crescent Lake	Garden	0.8 ft	132.5 µg/L	109.6 µg/L
15	Goose Lake	Holt	1 ft	170 µg/L	32.6 µg/L
16	Swanson Reservoir	Hitchcock	2.6 ft	90 µg/L	7.1 µg/L
17	Box Butte Reservoir	Dawes	5.6 ft	51.5 µg/L	4.5 µg/L
18	Harry Strunk Lake	Frontier	2.5 ft	67.6 µg/L	10.3 µg/L
19	Pibel Lake	Wheeler	2 ft	979 µg/L	54.9 µg/L
20	Kramper Lake	Dakota	4.5 ft	46.3 µg/L	13.3 µg/L
21	Kirkman'S Cove Lake	Richardson	1.4 ft	132 µg/L	20.5 µg/L
22	Enders Reservoir	Chase	2.8 ft	56.4 µg/L	10.3 µg/L
23	Johnson Lake	Gosper	2.8 ft	62.3 µg/L	11.3 µg/L
24	Harlan County Reservoir	Harlan	2.8 ft	201 µg/L	12.6 µg/L
25	Lake Wanahoo	Saunders	2.4 ft	92.4 µg/L	28 µg/L
26	Prairie Queen Lake	Sarpy	3.3 ft	42.3 µg/L	26.2 µg/L
27	Lake Ogallala	Keith	4.9 ft	52.2 µg/L	14.2 µg/L
28	Maskenthine Reservoir	Stanton	2.1 ft	151 µg/L	62.9 µg/L
29	Lone Star Reservoir	Fillmore	2.1 ft	740 µg/L	36.5 µg/L
30	Willow Creek Reservoir	Sarpy	1.5 ft	96.7 µg/L	65.6 µg/L
31	Summit Lake	Burt	2.6 ft	104 µg/L	37.7 µg/L
32	Rockford Lake	Gage	1.7 ft	328 µg/L	35.5 µg/L
33	Big Indian Lake	Gage	1.5 ft	255 µg/L	42.1 µg/L
34	Hedgefield Lake	Lancaster	1.6 ft	679.5 µg/L	46.9 µg/L
35	Meadowlark Lake	Seward	1.8 ft	235.5 µg/L	49.8 µg/L
36	Burchard Lake	Pawnee	1.9 ft	114 µg/L	65.3 µg/L
37	Wildwood Lake	Lancaster	1.7 ft	227.5 µg/L	85.8 µg/L

Ranked List

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