1
Waconia Lake
Carver County, Minnesota · near Mud Lake
- ++6.4 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (30 vs 150 µg/L)
Cleaner Lakes Than Mud Lake
4 lakes with lower nutrient and algae readings nearby, ranked by the size of the improvement and by proximity.
Mud Lake carries nutrient and algae readings on record. Within 30 miles, 4 lakes read lower. Waconia Lake (Carver County) is the closest meaningful upgrade.
Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
2
Auburn Lake
Carver County, Minnesota · near Mud Lake
- ++5.5 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (31 vs 150 µg/L)
3
Zumbra-Sunny Lake
Carver County, Minnesota · near Mud Lake
- ++8.9 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (27.6 vs 150 µg/L)
4
Whaletail Lake
Hennepin County, Minnesota · near Mud Lake
- ++2.4 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (45.8 vs 150 µg/L)
Stays via Stay22
Where to stay near Mud Lake
Compare cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals around Mud Lake in Minnesota. The 4 lakes above sit within 30 miles, so one base reaches them all. Switch the map to Satellite to see how close each stay is to the water.
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Reading the cohort
Within 30 miles of Mud Lake, 4 water bodies carry lower nutrient and algae readings on the same EPA water-quality metrics. That density of cleaner options is itself a signal: when several nearby lakes read better on the same indicators, the differences at Mud 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, Waconia Lake in Carver County, sits miles from Mud 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 Waconia Lake is mostly a habit change rather than a logistics change.
Each lake's nutrient and algae readings — total phosphorus, total nitrogen, chlorophyll-a, and turbidity — are shown beside the EPA National Lakes Assessment 2022 condition class for that lake's own ecoregion, so a reading is compared against the lakes it would naturally resemble. LakeQuality publishes no letter grade. Lower readings mean measurably less nutrient and algae in the water, not better scenery or access: the lake with the clearest, lowest-nutrient water can have worse boat-launch facilities or shoreline access than a neighbor, so the comparison is one input alongside the rest of trip planning. How the readings are classified is on our methodology page.
How this list is built
Sampled lakes on LakeQuality carry readings 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 strictly lower nutrient and algae readings, then rank by the size of the improvement with a small proximity tiebreak. Cross-state and limited-data lakes are excluded so the list stays locally relevant.