1
ALac Legendre
Abitibi County, Québec · 17.8 mi from Lac de Montigny
- +Two grade letters higher (C → A)
- ++14.4 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (6.3 vs 32.8 µg/L)
Cleaner Lakes Than Lac de Montigny
5 higher-graded lakes within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.
Lac de Montigny carries a Grade C (Fair) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Lac Legendre (Abitibi County, Grade A, 17.8 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.
Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
2
BLac Lemoine
La Vallée-de-l'Or County, Québec · 9.6 mi from Lac de Montigny
- +Higher grade (C → B)
- ++2.6 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (11.5 vs 32.8 µg/L)
3
BLac Sabourin
La Vallée-de-l'Or County, Québec · 14.9 mi from Lac de Montigny
- +Higher grade (C → B)
- ++2.9 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (12.6 vs 32.8 µg/L)
4
BLac Blouin
La Vallée-de-l'Or County, Québec · 5.7 mi from Lac de Montigny
- +Higher grade (C → B)
- ++1.1 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (15.5 vs 32.8 µg/L)
5
BLac des Carifel
Abitibi County, Québec · 25.5 mi from Lac de Montigny
- +Higher grade (C → B)
- ++3.2 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (15.5 vs 32.8 µg/L)
Reading the cohort
5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Lac de Montigny in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Lac de Montigny's Grade C 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 Québec weekend.
The nearest cleaner alternative — Lac Legendre in Abitibi County — sits 17.8 miles from Lac de Montigny, 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, Lac de Montigny 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.