What is the cleanest lake near Lake Grady?

Hillsborough-Mohrlake in Hillsborough County holds a Grade C water quality score and is 5.9 miles from Lake Grady.

Why is Lake Grady not Grade A?

Lake Grady holds Grade F, with about 2 ft of water clarity and 110 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 Lake Grady in Florida, with strictly higher numeric grade scores and sufficient monitoring data.

Cleaner Lakes Than Lake Grady, Top 2 Within 30 Miles, LakeQuality

Cleaner Lakes Than Lake Grady

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

Lake Grady carries a Grade F (Very Poor) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 2 lakes hold a higher grade. Hillsborough-Mohrlake (Hillsborough County, Grade C, 5.9 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.

Hillsborough-Mohrlake

Hillsborough County, Florida · 5.9 mi from Lake Grady

+Two grade letters higher (F → C)
++3.6 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (32.5 vs 110 µg/L)

Hillsborough-Hickory Hammock Lake

Hillsborough County, Florida · 5.3 mi from Lake Grady

+Two grade letters higher (F → C)
++2.5 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (50 vs 110 µg/L)

Reading the cohort

Only 2 lakes within a 30-mile radius score better than Lake Grady's Grade F. The narrow set of options reflects either a fairly clean lake to begin with or a region without a wide range of cleaner alternatives — the trip-planning decision is more constrained than the headline "cleaner lakes nearby" suggests.

Hillsborough-Mohrlake (Hillsborough County, Grade C) is the closest cleaner option at 5.9 miles from Lake Grady — 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 Lake Grady 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.