Skip to main content
LakeQuality

Cleaner Lakes Than Lake Diane South Basin; Amboy Township

1 higher-graded lake within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.

Lake Diane South Basin; Amboy Township carries a Grade D (Nutrient-rich) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 1 lake holds a higher grade. Rose Lake North Basin; Ovid Township (Branch County, Grade A, 22.2 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.

Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
1
A

Rose Lake North Basin; Ovid Township

Branch County, Michigan · 22.2 mi from Lake Diane South Basin; Amboy Township
  • +Two grade letters higher (D → A)
  • ++7.5 ft water clarity
  • +Lower phosphorus (10.5 vs 51 µg/L)

Reading the cohort

Just one nearby water body scores higher than Lake Diane South Basin; Amboy Township on the EPA metrics within a 30-mile radius. The single cleaner option (below) is the practical alternative; beyond that, the next-cleanest lakes sit farther out and warrant a longer drive only if the water-quality difference is the deciding factor.

The nearest cleaner alternative — Rose Lake North Basin; Ovid Township in Branch County — sits 22.2 miles from Lake Diane South Basin; Amboy Township, 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, Lake Diane South Basin; Amboy Township 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

Rated lakes on LakeQuality have a letter from EPA Water Quality Portal samples — nutrients and algae measured against EPA National Lakes Assessment ecoregion classes. Secchi is shown, not scored. 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.

Back to Lake Diane South Basin; Amboy Township →Cleanest lakes in Michigan →All cleanest lakes →Cleaner lake finder →