Eagle Lake vs Willmar Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Eagle Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Willmar Lake. Both are in Kandiyohi County, Minnesota.
Eagle Lake and Willmar Lake are both in Minnesota — 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. Eagle Lake reads materially cleaner than Willmar 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: Eagle 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?
Eagle Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 6.9 ft.
Willmar Lake
Very murky, less than 2 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Eagle Lake | Willmar Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 6.9 ft Better | 2 ft |
| Phosphorus | 23 µg/L Better | 73 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 7 µg/L Better | 27.6 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 67 ft Better | 14 ft |
| Surface Area | 849 acres | 636 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 17 | 18 Better |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | eutrophic |
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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Verdict
Eagle Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Willmar Lake. Water clarity: 6.9 ft vs 2 ft. For more fish-species variety, Willmar Lake edges ahead with 18 documented species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.