Allie Lake vs Preston Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Allie Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Preston Lake. Both are in Renville County, Minnesota.
Allie Lake and Preston Lake are both in Minnesota — a same-state head-to-head where the comparison comes down to lake-specific differences in depth, watershed, and monitoring history rather than the broader state-level water-quality regime. Allie Lake reads materially cleaner than Preston Lake on nutrients and algae. A gap that wide is unlikely to close in a single year of remediation work; it reflects multi-decade differences in the lakes themselves.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Allie Lake has the lower nutrient and algae numbers. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Allie Lake
Very murky, less than 3 ft of visibility.
Preston Lake
Murky, only visible to about 5 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Allie Lake | Preston Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 3 ft | 5 ft Better |
| Phosphorus | 214 µg/L Better | 222 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 13.8 µg/L Better | 39.2 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 12 ft Better | 11 ft |
| Surface Area | 509 acres | 655 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 13 | 13 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | eutrophic |
A green ✓ marks the better value for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better). Surface area and trophic state carry no tick — a bigger lake is not a better lake.
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Verdict
Allie Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Preston Lake. Water clarity: 3 ft vs 5 ft. For fishing diversity, Allie Lake also leads with 13 species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.