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Cleaner Lakes Than Sugar Creek Lake North Arm

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

Sugar Creek Lake North Arm carries a Grade D (Poor) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Rothwell Lake (Randolph County, Grade C, 5.2 mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.

Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
1
C

Rothwell Lake

Randolph County, Missouri · 5.2 mi from Sugar Creek Lake North Arm
  • +Higher grade (D → C)
  • ++2 ft water clarity
  • +Lower phosphorus (32 vs 71.3 µg/L)
2
C

Old Reservoir

Randolph County, Missouri · 5.3 mi from Sugar Creek Lake North Arm
  • +Higher grade (D → C)
  • ++2 ft water clarity
  • +Lower phosphorus (33 vs 71.3 µg/L)
3
D

Sugar Creek Lake

Randolph County, Missouri · 1.2 mi from Sugar Creek Lake North Arm
  • +Higher overall water quality score
  • +Lower phosphorus (50.5 vs 71.3 µg/L)
4
C

Thomas Hill Lake @ Hwy T

Macon County, Missouri · 12.3 mi from Sugar Creek Lake North Arm
  • +Higher grade (D → C)
  • +Lower phosphorus (51 vs 71.3 µg/L)
5
D

Cedar Lake

Randolph County, Missouri · 7.4 mi from Sugar Creek Lake North Arm
  • +Higher overall water quality score
  • ++1.1 ft water clarity
  • +Lower phosphorus (51.8 vs 71.3 µg/L)

Reading the cohort

5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Sugar Creek Lake North Arm in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Sugar Creek Lake North Arm's Grade D 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 Missouri weekend.

Rothwell Lake (Randolph County, Grade C) is the closest cleaner option at 5.2 miles from Sugar Creek Lake North Arm — 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 Sugar Creek Lake North Arm 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.

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