Badger Lake vs Don Williams Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Badger Lake and Don Williams Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of F (Very Poor). Both are in Wisconsin.
Both Badger Lake and Don Williams Lake sit in Iowa. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any grade differences here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies grading them. The grades are close: Badger Lake (F) and Don Williams 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.
Badger Lake
Very murky, less than 2.8 ft of visibility.
Don Williams Lake
Very murky, less than 1.8 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Badger Lake | Don Williams Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | F (Very Poor) | F (Very Poor) |
| Water Clarity | 2.8 ft | 1.8 ft |
| Phosphorus | No data | No data |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 33.3 µg/L | 45.2 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | - | - |
| Surface Area | 50 acres | 160 acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fish Species | 0 | 0 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | eutrophic |
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, Don Williams Lake: 1.8 ft) and what you want from the lake. Badger Lake matches its peer on species count.