What is the cleanest lake in Nebraska?

Crescent Lake in Garden County has the cleanest nutrient and algae readings in Nebraska, with 0.8 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 Nebraska

38 lakes in Nebraska 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	Crescent Lake	Garden	0.8 ft	132.5 µg/L	109.6 µg/L
2	Merritt Reservoir	Cherry	2 ft	147 µg/L	92.1 µg/L
3	Pelican Lake	Cherry	1.2 ft	210 µg/L	88.9 µg/L
4	Wildwood Lake	Lancaster	1.7 ft	227.5 µg/L	85.8 µg/L
5	Grove Lake	Antelope	2.1 ft	91.3 µg/L	84.8 µg/L
6	Willow Creek Reservoir	Pierce	1.3 ft	-	78.4 µg/L
7	Carter Lake	Douglas	3.2 ft	-	76 µg/L
8	Swan Lake	Holt	1.8 ft	-	74.8 µg/L
9	Willow Creek Reservoir	Sarpy	1.5 ft	96.7 µg/L	65.6 µg/L
10	Burchard Lake	Pawnee	1.9 ft	114 µg/L	65.3 µg/L
11	Maskenthine Reservoir	Stanton	2.1 ft	151 µg/L	62.9 µg/L
12	Memphis Lake	Saunders	1.5 ft	-	62.6 µg/L
13	Lake Hastings	Adams	0.3 ft	-	60.5 µg/L
14	Smith Lake	Sheridan	1.7 ft	248 µg/L	56.1 µg/L
15	Swan Creek Lake	Saline	1.5 ft	684 µg/L	55.4 µg/L
16	Pibel Lake	Wheeler	2 ft	979 µg/L	54.9 µg/L
17	Czechland Lake	Saunders	2.1 ft	-	53.4 µg/L
18	Meadowlark Lake	Seward	1.8 ft	235.5 µg/L	49.8 µg/L
19	Hedgefield Lake	Lancaster	1.6 ft	679.5 µg/L	46.9 µg/L
20	Homestead Lake	Butler	3 ft	-	46.7 µg/L
21	Liberty Cove Lake	Webster	2.2 ft	386 µg/L	44.1 µg/L
22	Big Indian Lake	Gage	1.5 ft	255 µg/L	42.1 µg/L
23	Summit Lake	Burt	2.6 ft	104 µg/L	37.7 µg/L
24	Lone Star Reservoir	Fillmore	2.1 ft	740 µg/L	36.5 µg/L
25	Gallagher Canyon Reservoir	Dawson	1.3 ft	-	35.6 µg/L
26	Rockford Lake	Gage	1.7 ft	328 µg/L	35.5 µg/L
27	Ravenna Lake E of Ravenna	Buffalo	-	-	35.1 µg/L
28	Goose Lake	Holt	1 ft	170 µg/L	32.6 µg/L
29	Buckskin Hills Lake	Dixon	2.4 ft	-	32 µg/L
30	Lake North	Platte	1.3 ft	-	29.9 µg/L
31	Powder Creek Lake	Dixon	2.7 ft	-	29.5 µg/L
32	Oxbow Trails Reservoir	Butler	1.3 ft	356.3 µg/L	29.4 µg/L
33	Lake Wanahoo	Saunders	2.4 ft	92.4 µg/L	28 µg/L
34	Prairie Queen Lake	Sarpy	3.3 ft	42.3 µg/L	26.2 µg/L
35	Calamus Reservoir	Garfield	3.6 ft	124.5 µg/L	26.1 µg/L
36	Jeffrey Reservoir	Lincoln	1.5 ft	-	25.3 µg/L
37	Kirkman'S Cove Lake	Richardson	1.4 ft	132 µg/L	20.5 µg/L
38	Jenny Newman Lake	Cass	5.4 ft	72.1 µg/L	20.2 µg/L

Ranked List

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