What is the cleanest lake in Nevada?

Wildhorse Reservoir in Elko County has the cleanest nutrient and algae readings in Nevada, 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.

Lakes With Algae Readings in Nevada

5 lakes in Nevada 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	Wildhorse Reservoir	Elko	5.9 ft	107 µg/L	67.2 µg/L
2	Sheep Creek Middle Reservoir	Elko	3 ft	164.5 µg/L	63.7 µg/L
3	Knott Creek Reservoir	Humboldt	-	145 µg/L	59 µg/L
4	Spooner Lake	Douglas	-	40 µg/L	40.6 µg/L
5	Willow Creek Reservoir East	Elko	-	480 µg/L	27 µg/L

Ranked List

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