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Cleaner Lakes Than Hillsborough-Teakwood Lake

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

Hillsborough-Teakwood Lake carries a Grade F (Very Poor) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Hillsborough-Magdalene Lake (Hillsborough County, Grade B, 0.8 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.

Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
1
B

Hillsborough-Magdalene Lake

Hillsborough County, Florida · 0.8 mi from Hillsborough-Teakwood Lake
  • +Two grade letters higher (F → B)
  • ++4.7 ft water clarity
  • +Lower phosphorus (16 vs 105 µg/L)
2
C

Golden Trout Lake

Hillsborough County, Florida · 0.5 mi from Hillsborough-Teakwood Lake
  • +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
  • ++3.9 ft water clarity
  • +Lower phosphorus (28 vs 105 µg/L)
3
C

Hillsborough-Cedar West Lake

Hillsborough County, Florida · 1 mi from Hillsborough-Teakwood Lake
  • +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
  • ++4 ft water clarity
  • +Lower phosphorus (33 vs 105 µg/L)
4
C

Hillsborough-Newlands Lake

Hillsborough County, Florida · 0.4 mi from Hillsborough-Teakwood Lake
  • +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
  • +Lower phosphorus (38 vs 105 µg/L)
5
C

Hillsborough-Country Lakes Pond

Hillsborough County, Florida · 0.7 mi from Hillsborough-Teakwood Lake
  • +Two grade letters higher (F → C)
  • +Lower phosphorus (58 vs 105 µg/L)

Reading the cohort

Within 30 miles of Hillsborough-Teakwood Lake, 5 water bodies score higher than its Grade F 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 Hillsborough-Teakwood 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.

The closest cleaner alternative — Hillsborough-Magdalene Lake in Hillsborough County, Grade B — sits 0.8 miles from Hillsborough-Teakwood 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-Magdalene Lake 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.

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