Rush Lake vs Silver Creek Estuary Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Rush Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Silver Creek Estuary Lake. Both are in Wisconsin.
Both Rush Lake and Silver Creek Estuary Lake sit in Wisconsin. 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. Rush Lake reads materially cleaner than Silver Creek Estuary 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: Rush 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?
Rush Lake
Very murky, less than 3.2 ft of visibility.
Silver Creek Estuary Lake
No clarity data.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Rush Lake | Silver Creek Estuary Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 3.2 ft | No data |
| Phosphorus | 26 µg/L Better | 125.5 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 5 ft | 236 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 2,729 acres | 7,920 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 2 | 7 Better |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | hypereutrophic |
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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Compare Rush Lake or Silver Creek Estuary Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Rush Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Silver Creek Estuary Lake. For more fish-species variety, Silver Creek Estuary Lake edges ahead with 7 documented species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.