Shallow Lake vs Sugar Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Shallow Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Sugar Lake. Both are in Itasca County, Minnesota.
Both Shallow Lake and Sugar 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: Shallow Lake carries clearly lower phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings than Sugar 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: 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?
Shallow Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 16.4 ft down.
Sugar Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 8.4 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Shallow Lake | Sugar Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 16.4 ft Better | 8.4 ft |
| Phosphorus | 9 µg/L Better | 18 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 3.2 µg/L Better | 4.9 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | 85 ft Better | 22 ft |
| Surface Area | 539 acres | 1,509 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 12 | 13 Better |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | mesotrophic |
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 Shallow Lake or Sugar Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Shallow Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Sugar Lake. Water clarity: 16.4 ft vs 8.4 ft. For more fish-species variety, Sugar Lake edges ahead with 13 documented species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.