What is the cleanest lake near Curtis Lake?

Upper Lake in Stafford County holds a Grade A water quality score and is 5.7 miles from Curtis Lake.

Why is Curtis Lake not Grade A?

Curtis Lake holds Grade C, with about 4.3 ft of water clarity and 25 µg/L of phosphorus. The grade reflects measured water quality against Metropolitan Council thresholds. Cleaner alternatives nearby score higher on clarity, phosphorus, or chlorophyll-a.

Are these recommendations based on real data?

Yes. Every grade is calculated from EPA Water Quality Portal samples for the lake. Recommendations are limited to lakes within 30 miles of Curtis Lake in Virginia, with strictly higher numeric grade scores and sufficient monitoring data.

Cleaner Lakes Than Curtis Lake, Top 5 Within 30 Miles, LakeQuality

Cleaner Lakes Than Curtis Lake

5 higher-graded lakes within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.

Curtis Lake carries a Grade C (Fair) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Upper Lake (Stafford County, Grade A, 5.7 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.

Upper Lake

Stafford County, Virginia · 5.7 mi from Curtis Lake

+Two grade letters higher (C → A)
++4.4 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (10 vs 25 µg/L)

Near Spillway Lake Mooney

Stafford County, Virginia · 6.8 mi from Curtis Lake

+Two grade letters higher (C → A)
++4.9 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (10 vs 25 µg/L)

Hunting Run Reservior Lake

Spotsylvania County, Virginia · 7.1 mi from Curtis Lake

+Two grade letters higher (C → A)
++3.9 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (10 vs 25 µg/L)

Hunting Run Reservoir

Spotsylvania County, Virginia · 8.1 mi from Curtis Lake

+Two grade letters higher (C → A)
++2.3 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (10 vs 25 µg/L)

Motts Run Reservoir

Spotsylvania County, Virginia · 8.3 mi from Curtis Lake

+Two grade letters higher (C → A)
++5.9 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (10 vs 25 µg/L)

Reading the cohort

Within 30 miles of Curtis Lake, 5 water bodies score higher than its Grade C on the same EPA water-quality metrics. That density of cleaner options is itself a signal — when several nearby lakes score better on the same indicators, the issues at Curtis Lake are typically lake-specific (depth, watershed inflow, stratification pattern) rather than regional. The choice for a swim, paddle, or fishing trip is genuinely between meaningfully different water bodies, not between marginal differences in the same dataset.

Upper Lake (Stafford County, Grade A) is the closest cleaner option at 5.7 miles from Curtis Lake — close enough to be a genuine substitute for most users, far enough that it isn't the same neighborhood lake. Worth the trip if water quality is the primary driver; less obvious if Curtis Lake is on the way to other plans.

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.