Maple Lake vs Skokie Lagoon 5 Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Maple Lake and Skokie Lagoon 5 Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of D (Poor). Both are in Cook County, Wisconsin.
Maple Lake and Skokie Lagoon 5 Lake are both in Illinois — 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 — Maple Lake (D) versus Skokie Lagoon 5 Lake (D). 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.
Maple Lake
Murky, only visible to about 5 ft.
Skokie Lagoon 5 Lake
Murky, only visible to about 3.5 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Maple Lake | Skokie Lagoon 5 Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | D (Poor) | D (Poor) |
| Water Clarity | 5 ft | 3.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | No data | No data |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | - | - |
| Surface Area | 60 acres | 378 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 D. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Maple Lake: 5 ft, Skokie Lagoon 5 Lake: 3.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Maple Lake matches its peer on species count.