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Minnie-Belle Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Unnamed Lake. Both are in Meeker County, Minnesota.

Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated

Both Minnie-Belle Lake and Unnamed 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. The readings are meaningfully apart: Minnie-Belle Lake carries clearly lower phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings than Unnamed Lake. A spread that wide reflects real underlying differences, in watershed inputs, depth profiles, or monitoring rigor.

For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Minnie-Belle 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?

Minnie-Belle Lake

Meeker County, Minnesota

Good clarity, visible to about 14.4 ft.

Unnamed Lake

Meeker County, Minnesota

Very murky, less than 0.7 ft of visibility.

Side-by-Side Metrics

MetricMinnie-Belle LakeUnnamed Lake
Water Clarity14.4 ft Better0.7 ft
Phosphorus14 µg/L Better224 µg/L
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)3.8 µg/L Better85.4 µg/L
Maximum Depth49 ft Better15 ft
Surface Area597 acres553 acres
Public AccessYesYes
Fish Species14 Better10
Trophic Statemesotrophichypereutrophic

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.

Verdict

Minnie-Belle Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Unnamed Lake. Water clarity: 14.4 ft vs 0.7 ft. For fishing diversity, Minnie-Belle Lake also leads with 14 species.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.