1
ATiny Pond
Windsor County, Vermont · 5.6 mi from Star Lake
- +Higher grade (B → A)
- +Lower phosphorus (9.8 vs 28.8 µg/L)
Cleaner Lakes Than Star Lake
5 higher-graded lakes within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.
Star Lake carries a Grade B (Good) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Tiny Pond (Windsor County, Grade A, 5.6 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.
Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
2
ARescue Lake
Windsor County, Vermont · 6.3 mi from Star Lake
- +Higher grade (B → A)
- +Lower phosphorus (10.7 vs 28.8 µg/L)
3
AAmherst Lake
Windsor County, Vermont · 7.5 mi from Star Lake
- +Higher grade (B → A)
- +Lower phosphorus (8.8 vs 28.8 µg/L)
4
AReservoir Pond
Windsor County, Vermont · 6.2 mi from Star Lake
- +Higher grade (B → A)
- +Lower phosphorus (6.2 vs 28.8 µg/L)
5
AEcho Lake
Windsor County, Vermont · 6.7 mi from Star Lake
- +Higher grade (B → A)
- +Lower phosphorus (8.3 vs 28.8 µg/L)
Reading the cohort
5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Star Lake in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Star Lake's Grade B 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 Vermont weekend.
Tiny Pond (Windsor County, Grade A) is the closest cleaner option at 5.6 miles from Star Lake — 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 Star Lake 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.