Sands Timber Lake vs Windmill Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Sands Timber Lake and Windmill Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of F (Very Poor). Both are in Taylor County, Wisconsin.
Sands Timber Lake and Windmill Lake are both in Iowa — 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 — Sands Timber Lake (F) versus Windmill Lake (F). 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.
Sands Timber Lake
Very murky, less than 1.8 ft of visibility.
Windmill Lake
Very murky, less than 2.5 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Sands Timber Lake | Windmill Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | F (Very Poor) | F (Very Poor) |
| Water Clarity | 1.8 ft | 2.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | No data | No data |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 70.1 µg/L | 33.9 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | - | - |
| Surface Area | 70 acres | 24.5 acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fish Species | 0 | 0 |
| Trophic State | hypereutrophic | eutrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade F. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Sands Timber Lake: 1.8 ft, Windmill Lake: 2.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Sands Timber Lake matches its peer on species count.