What is the cleanest lake in Kansas?

Ellis City Lake in Ellis County has the cleanest nutrient and algae readings in Kansas, with 0.5 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.

Lakes With Algae Readings in Kansas

50 lakes in Kansas report elevated algae levels (chlorophyll-a above 20 µg/L). These lakes are most likely to develop blue-green algae blooms during warm, calm summer weather. Avoid swimming during visible blooms and rinse pets after contact.

Ranked List

#	Lake	County	Clarity	Phosphorus	Algae
1	Marais des Cygnes Wildlife Area Lake	Linn	0.5 ft	2.3 µg/L	454 µg/L
2	Marais des Cygnes Nwr Lake	Linn	0.6 ft	810 µg/L	255 µg/L
3	Ellis City Lake	Ellis	0.7 ft	800 µg/L	250 µg/L
4	Lake Warnock	Atchison	1.7 ft	509.5 µg/L	219 µg/L
5	Harvey Co East Lake	Harvey	1 ft	360 µg/L	205 µg/L
6	Gathering Pond East	Geary	1 ft	450 µg/L	189 µg/L
7	Cheyenne Bottoms Pool	Barton	0.4 ft	420.5 µg/L	173.5 µg/L
8	Ogden City Lake	Riley	0.9 ft	-	168.5 µg/L
9	Garnett Lake	Anderson	2.4 ft	69.5 µg/L	160 µg/L
10	Little Lake	Brown	-	250 µg/L	155 µg/L
11	Jamestown Wildlife Area Lake	Cloud	0.4 ft	445 µg/L	150 µg/L
12	Kingman Co State Fishing Lake	Kingman	0.6 ft	195 µg/L	150 µg/L
13	Fossil Lake	Russell	0.7 ft	-	142 µg/L
14	Harvey County Camp Hawk Lake	Harvey	1.3 ft	-	138.4 µg/L
15	Newton City Park Lake	Harvey	1.2 ft	485 µg/L	120 µg/L
16	Harvey Co West Park Lake	Harvey	1.4 ft	115 µg/L	118.4 µg/L
17	Pratt County Lake	Pratt	1.2 ft	325 µg/L	110 µg/L
18	Water Works Park Lake	Johnson	-	101.7 µg/L	107 µg/L
19	Central Park Lake	Shawnee	1.2 ft	325 µg/L	105 µg/L
20	Spring Creek Park Lake	Douglas	1 ft	-	104.6 µg/L
21	Mcpherson Co State Fishing Lake	McPherson	1.8 ft	260 µg/L	100 µg/L
22	Chisholm Creek Park Lake South	Sedgwick	1.1 ft	205 µg/L	97 µg/L
23	Chanute Santa Fe Lake	Neosho	1.8 ft	185 µg/L	95.5 µg/L
24	Summer Crest Park Lake	Johnson	-	109.6 µg/L	93.5 µg/L
25	Hiawatha City Lake	Brown	2.1 ft	135 µg/L	93 µg/L
26	Lake Afton	Sedgwick	1.7 ft	170 µg/L	90.1 µg/L
27	Neosho Co State Fishing Lake	Neosho	2 ft	89 µg/L	85 µg/L
28	Quivera Little Salt Marsh Lake	Stafford	0.9 ft	280 µg/L	83 µg/L
29	Mcpherson Wetlands Lake	McPherson	-	-	79 µg/L
30	Crystal Lake	Anderson	1.4 ft	88.5 µg/L	72.5 µg/L
31	South Lake	Johnson	-	177.2 µg/L	72 µg/L
32	Atwood Township Lake	Rawlins	1 ft	-	66.9 µg/L
33	Hodgeman Co State Fishing Lake	Hodgeman	1.6 ft	1000 µg/L	65.5 µg/L
34	Brown Co State Fishing Lake	Brown	1.3 ft	88 µg/L	64.5 µg/L
35	Antelope Lake	Graham	0.9 ft	215 µg/L	62 µg/L
36	Pony Creek Lake	Brown	2.2 ft	83 µg/L	62 µg/L
37	Veteran'S Lake	Barton	2.3 ft	74 µg/L	61.5 µg/L
38	Antioch Park Lake	Johnson	-	347.1 µg/L	61.3 µg/L
39	Carey Park Lake	Reno	1.5 ft	80.5 µg/L	59 µg/L
40	Kingston Lake Park	Johnson	-	129.9 µg/L	58.7 µg/L
41	Sheridan Co State Fishing Lake	Sheridan	1.1 ft	76 µg/L	56.8 µg/L
42	La Cygne Lake	Linn	2.4 ft	37 µg/L	56 µg/L
43	Miami Co State Fishing Lake	Miami	2 ft	90 µg/L	53.1 µg/L
44	Sar Ko Park Lake	Johnson	-	86.5 µg/L	51.9 µg/L
45	Lovewell Lake	Jewell	1.3 ft	270 µg/L	49.5 µg/L
46	Big Eleven Lake	Wyandotte	-	124.4 µg/L	48.6 µg/L
47	Augusta City Lake	Butler	1.5 ft	180 µg/L	48.5 µg/L
48	Tomahawk Creek Park Lake	Johnson	-	162.1 µg/L	45.9 µg/L
49	Big Eleven Lake Park Lake	Wyandotte	2.8 ft	147 µg/L	45.2 µg/L
50	Norton Lake	Norton	2 ft	150 µg/L	44 µg/L

Ranked List

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