Round Lake vs Shallow Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Shallow Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Round Lake. Both are in Itasca County, Minnesota.
Both Round Lake and Shallow 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. Shallow Lake reads materially cleaner than Round 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: Shallow 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?
Round Lake
Murky, only visible to about 4.1 ft.
Shallow Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16.4 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Round Lake | Shallow Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 4.1 ft | 16.4 ft Better |
| Phosphorus | 67 µg/L | 9 µg/L Better |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 31.8 µg/L | 3.2 µg/L Better |
| Maximum Depth | 24 ft | 85 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 2,860 acres | 539 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 17 Better | 12 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | oligotrophic |
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.
Swap a lake
Compare Round Lake or Shallow Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Shallow Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Round Lake. Water clarity: 16.4 ft vs 4.1 ft. For more fish-species variety, Round Lake edges ahead with 17 documented species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.