1
CHillsborough-Mohrlake
Hillsborough County, Florida · 2.1 mi from Clayton Park Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
- ++3.6 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (32.5 vs 160 µg/L)
Cleaner Lakes Than Clayton Park Lake
5 higher-graded lakes within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.
Clayton Park Lake carries a Grade F (Very Poor) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Hillsborough-Mohrlake (Hillsborough County, Grade C, 2.1 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.
Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
2
CHillsborough-Hickory Hammock Lake
Hillsborough County, Florida · 1.2 mi from Clayton Park Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
- ++2.5 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (50 vs 160 µg/L)
3
CHillsborough-Mead Lake
Hillsborough County, Florida · 1.3 mi from Clayton Park Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
- ++1.5 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (38 vs 160 µg/L)
4
CHillsborough-Wee Lake
Hillsborough County, Florida · 1.7 mi from Clayton Park Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
- ++1.2 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (47 vs 160 µg/L)
5
CHillsborough-June Lake
Hillsborough County, Florida · 2 mi from Clayton Park Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
- +Lower phosphorus (51 vs 160 µg/L)
Reading the cohort
5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Clayton Park Lake in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Clayton Park Lake's Grade F reflects something specific to the lake itself — not a regional water-quality ceiling. The neighbor list below isn't a small set of marginal upgrades; it's a real cohort of meaningfully cleaner choices for the same Florida weekend.
The closest cleaner alternative — Hillsborough-Mohrlake in Hillsborough County, Grade C — sits 2.1 miles from Clayton Park Lake. At that distance, the substitution cost is essentially zero: same drive time, same regional access, demonstrably cleaner water on the EPA indicators. For repeat visitors who care about clarity or phosphorus levels, swapping the routine to Hillsborough-Mohrlake is mostly a habit change rather than a logistics change.
The EPA water-quality grading combines clarity (Secchi depth), phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a measurements from state environmental sampling. A higher letter grade reflects measurably cleaner water on those indicators, not subjective beauty or access quality — a Grade A lake might have worse boat-launch facilities or shoreline access than a Grade C neighbor, so the ranking is one input alongside the rest of trip planning. See the methodology page for the full grading formula.
How this list is built
Every lake on LakeQuality has a calculated grade from EPA Water Quality Portal samples — secchi depth, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a measured against Metropolitan Council thresholds. To suggest cleaner alternatives, we filter lakes within 30 miles to those with a strictly higher numeric score, then rank by grade improvement with a small proximity tiebreak. Cross-state and limited-data lakes are excluded so the list stays locally relevant.