What is the cleanest lake near Mud Lake?

Olson Lake in Washington County holds a Grade A water quality score and is null miles from Mud Lake.

Why is Mud Lake not Grade A?

Mud Lake holds Grade F, with about 1.2 ft of water clarity and 89 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 Mud Lake in Minnesota, with strictly higher numeric grade scores and sufficient monitoring data.

Cleaner Lakes Than Mud Lake, Top 5 Within 30 Miles, LakeQuality

Cleaner Lakes Than Mud Lake

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

Mud Lake carries a Grade F (Very Poor) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Olson Lake (Washington County, Grade A, null mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.

Olson Lake

Washington County, Minnesota · mi from Mud Lake

+Two grade letters higher (F → A)
++10 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (15 vs 89 µg/L)

Jane Lake

Washington County, Minnesota · mi from Mud Lake

+Two grade letters higher (F → A)
++11.8 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (18 vs 89 µg/L)

Demontreville Lake

Washington County, Minnesota · mi from Mud Lake

+Two grade letters higher (F → B)
++9 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (25.5 vs 89 µg/L)

Lost Lake

Washington County, Minnesota · mi from Mud Lake

+Two grade letters higher (F → C)
++5.1 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (25 vs 89 µg/L)

Silver Lake

Ramsey County, Minnesota · mi from Mud Lake

+Two grade letters higher (F → C)
++5.8 ft water clarity
+Lower phosphorus (52 vs 89 µg/L)

Reading the cohort

5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Mud Lake in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Mud Lake's Grade F 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 Minnesota weekend.

The closest cleaner alternative — Olson Lake in Washington County, Grade A — 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 Olson Lake is mostly a habit change rather than a logistics change.

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.