What is the cleanest lake in New Mexico?

Hopewell Lake in Rio Arriba County has the cleanest nutrient and algae readings in New Mexico, with 1.6 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 New Mexico

8 lakes in New Mexico 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	Six Mile Dam Lake	Eddy	1.6 ft	-	110.3 µg/L
2	Jal Lake	Lea	3.9 ft	35 µg/L	62.3 µg/L
3	Hopewell Lake	Rio Arriba	3.9 ft	76 µg/L	52.9 µg/L
4	Lake Roberts	Grant	5.7 ft	-	41.1 µg/L
5	Caballo Lake	Sierra	1.8 ft	-	37.4 µg/L
6	Burns Lake Deep	Rio Arriba	2.3 ft	-	23.5 µg/L
7	Brantley Reservoir Deep	Eddy	3.9 ft	-	21 µg/L
8	Elephant Butte Reservoir	Sierra	3.4 ft	-	20.8 µg/L

Ranked List

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