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LakeQuality

Badger Creek Max Depth Lake vs Cedar Lake

Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.

Badger Creek Max Depth Lake and Cedar Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of F (Very Poor). Both are in Madison County, Wisconsin.

Badger Creek Max Depth Lake and Cedar Lake are both in Iowa — 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. The grades are close: Badger Creek Max Depth Lake (F) and Cedar Lake (F) are within one letter of each other on the LakeGrade rubric. The per-parameter sub-grades below will show where the small differences actually live.

With grades this close, the choice between the two lakes turns on non-water-quality factors: depth, fish species, public access, distance from home. The per-lake pages below cover all of those.

F

Badger Creek Max Depth Lake

Madison County, Wisconsin

Very murky, less than 1.6 ft of visibility.

F

Cedar Lake

Madison County, Wisconsin

Very murky, less than 1.6 ft of visibility.

Side-by-Side Metrics

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

MetricBadger Creek Max Depth LakeCedar Lake
Overall GradeF (Very Poor)F (Very Poor)
Water Clarity1.6 ft1.6 ft
PhosphorusNo dataNo data
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)77.7 µg/L62.7 µg/L
Maximum Depth--
Surface Area276 acres84 acres
Public AccessUnknownUnknown
Fish Species00
Trophic Statehypereutrophichypereutrophic

Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).

Verdict

Both lakes earn the same Grade F. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Badger Creek Max Depth Lake: 1.6 ft, Cedar Lake: 1.6 ft) and what you want from the lake. Badger Creek Max Depth Lake matches its peer on species count.