Skip to main content
LakeQuality

Badger Lake vs Briggs Woods Lake

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

Badger Lake and Briggs Woods Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of F (Very Poor). Both are in Wisconsin.

Badger Lake and Briggs Woods 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. These two are within a letter of each other on the rubric — Badger Lake (F) versus Briggs Woods Lake (F). The deciding factors for a recreational visitor are likely physical (depth, access, fish species) rather than water-quality differences.

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 Lake

Webster County, Wisconsin

Very murky, less than 2.8 ft of visibility.

F

Briggs Woods Lake

Hamilton County, Wisconsin

Very murky, less than 1.5 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 LakeBriggs Woods Lake
Overall GradeF (Very Poor)F (Very Poor)
Water Clarity2.8 ft1.5 ft
PhosphorusNo dataNo data
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)33.3 µg/L59.1 µg/L
Maximum Depth--
Surface Area50 acres70 acres
Public AccessUnknownUnknown
Fish Species00
Trophic Stateeutrophichypereutrophic

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 Lake: 2.8 ft, Briggs Woods Lake: 1.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Badger Lake matches its peer on species count.