1
BNorth Bethany City Reservoir
Harrison County, Missouri · 24.7 mi from Crowder S.P. Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (F → B)
- ++9.5 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (11 vs 110 µg/L)
Cleaner Lakes Than Crowder S.P. Lake
5 higher-graded lakes within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.
Crowder S.P. Lake carries a Grade F (Very Poor) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. North Bethany City Reservoir (Harrison County, Grade B, 24.7 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.
Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
2
BLake Marie
Mercer County, Missouri · 27.7 mi from Crowder S.P. Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (F → B)
- ++6.8 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (13 vs 110 µg/L)
3
DIndian Creek Lake
Livingston County, Missouri · 13.7 mi from Crowder S.P. Lake
- +Higher grade (F → D)
- ++4.5 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (80 vs 110 µg/L)
5
DLake Paho
Mercer County, Missouri · 21.2 mi from Crowder S.P. Lake
- +Higher grade (F → D)
- ++1.2 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (37 vs 110 µg/L)
Reading the cohort
5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Crowder S.P. Lake in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Crowder S.P. 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 Missouri weekend.
The nearest cleaner alternative — North Bethany City Reservoir in Harrison County — sits 24.7 miles from Crowder S.P. Lake, putting it firmly in "destination trip" rather than "neighborhood swap" range. The water-quality gap has to be the deciding factor; for a casual outing, Crowder S.P. Lake is the practical choice and the cleaner options are reserved for purpose-specific visits.
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.