Clear Lake vs Ml-Seventeen Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Clear Lake has a higher water quality grade (A, Excellent) than Ml-Seventeen Lake (C, Fair). Both are in Aitkin County, Minnesota.
Both Clear Lake and Ml-Seventeen Lake sit in Minnesota. 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 meaningfully apart: Clear Lake grades a A while Ml-Seventeen Lake grades a C. That two-letter spread reflects real underlying differences — different watershed inputs, different depth profiles, or different monitoring rigor.
For a recreational visitor, the wider grade gap is decisive — Clear Lake is the better water-quality choice. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Clear Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 15 ft down.
Ml-Seventeen Lake
Murky, only visible to about 6.2 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Clear Lake | Ml-Seventeen Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | C (Fair) |
| Water Clarity | 15 ft | 6.2 ft |
| Phosphorus | 15 µg/L | 24.5 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | 5.3 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 24 ft | 42 ft |
| Surface Area | 573.5 acres | 128.3K acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 14 | 21 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | mesotrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Clear Lake wins on overall water quality with a Grade A versus Ml-Seventeen Lake's Grade C. Water clarity: 15 ft vs 6.2 ft. For more fish-species variety, Ml-Seventeen Lake edges ahead with 21 documented species.