Buffalo Lake vs Clearwater Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Clearwater Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Buffalo Lake. Both are in Wright County, Minnesota.
Both Buffalo Lake and Clearwater Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any differences in the readings here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies sampling them. Clearwater Lake reads materially cleaner than Buffalo 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: Clearwater 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?
Buffalo Lake
Very murky, less than 3 ft of visibility.
Clearwater Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 9.8 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Buffalo Lake | Clearwater Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 3 ft | 9.8 ft Better |
| Phosphorus | 47 µg/L | 22 µg/L Better |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 40.6 µg/L | 6.3 µg/L Better |
| Maximum Depth | 33 ft | 73 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 1,552 acres | 3,187 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 20 Better | 17 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | mesotrophic |
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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Compare Buffalo Lake or Clearwater Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Clearwater Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Buffalo Lake. Water clarity: 9.8 ft vs 3 ft. For more fish-species variety, Buffalo Lake edges ahead with 20 documented species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.