1
ALac Thomas
D'Autray County, Québec · 6.9 mi from Lac Hamelin
- +Two grade letters higher (C → A)
- ++13.7 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (3.8 vs 21.3 µg/L)
Cleaner Lakes Than Lac Hamelin
5 higher-graded lakes within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.
Lac Hamelin carries a Grade C (Fair) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Lac Thomas (D'Autray County, Grade A, 6.9 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.
Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
2
ALac Creux
D'Autray County, Québec · 8.6 mi from Lac Hamelin
- +Two grade letters higher (C → A)
- ++27.8 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (3.3 vs 21.3 µg/L)
3
ALac Deligny
D'Autray County, Québec · 7.2 mi from Lac Hamelin
- +Two grade letters higher (C → A)
- ++9.8 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (7.3 vs 21.3 µg/L)
4
ALac Croche
D'Autray County, Québec · 7.9 mi from Lac Hamelin
- +Two grade letters higher (C → A)
- ++7.2 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (8.1 vs 21.3 µg/L)
5
ALac à L'Île
D'Autray County, Québec · 8.4 mi from Lac Hamelin
- +Two grade letters higher (C → A)
- ++11.4 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (6.7 vs 21.3 µg/L)
Reading the cohort
5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Lac Hamelin in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Lac Hamelin'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.
Lac Thomas (D'Autray County, Grade A) is the closest cleaner option at 6.9 miles from Lac Hamelin — 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 Lac Hamelin 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.