Sarah Lake vs Shetek Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Sarah Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Shetek Lake. Both are in Murray County, Minnesota.
Sarah Lake and Shetek Lake are both in Minnesota — 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. Sarah Lake reads materially cleaner than Shetek 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: Sarah 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?
Sarah Lake
Murky, only visible to about 3.9 ft.
Shetek Lake
Very murky, less than 1.1 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Sarah Lake | Shetek Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 3.9 ft Better | 1.1 ft |
| Phosphorus | 59 µg/L Better | 102 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 2.1 µg/L Better | 31.1 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 10 ft | 10 ft |
| Surface Area | 1,209 acres | 3,462 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 10 | 17 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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Verdict
Sarah Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Shetek Lake. Water clarity: 3.9 ft vs 1.1 ft. For more fish-species variety, Shetek Lake edges ahead with 17 documented species.
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Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.