Ballard Lake vs White Sand Lake Deep
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Ballard Lake and White Sand Lake Deep both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Vilas County, Wisconsin.
Ballard Lake and White Sand Lake Deep are both in Wisconsin — 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 — Ballard Lake (A) versus White Sand Lake Deep (A). 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.
Ballard Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 15 ft down.
White Sand Lake Deep
Crystal clear, you can see 18 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Ballard Lake | White Sand Lake Deep |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 15 ft | 18 ft |
| Phosphorus | 15.5 µg/L | No data |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 25 ft | 63 ft |
| Surface Area | 503 acres | 1.2K acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fish Species | 0 | 0 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | oligotrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade A. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Ballard Lake: 15 ft, White Sand Lake Deep: 18 ft) and what you want from the lake. Ballard Lake matches its peer on species count.