Viking Lake vs Windmill Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Viking Lake and Windmill Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of F (Very Poor). Both are in Wisconsin.
Viking 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. The grades are close: Viking Lake (F) and Windmill Lake (F) are within one letter of each other on the LakeGrade rubric. The per-parameter sub-grades below will show where the small differences actually live.
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.
Viking Lake
Very murky, less than 3.3 ft of visibility.
Windmill Lake
Very murky, less than 2.5 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Viking Lake | Windmill Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | F (Very Poor) | F (Very Poor) |
| Water Clarity | 3.3 ft | 2.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | No data | No data |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 32.7 µg/L | 33.9 µg/L |
| Maximum Depth | - | - |
| Surface Area | 148 acres | 24.5 acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fish Species | 0 | 0 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | 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 (Viking Lake: 3.3 ft, Windmill Lake: 2.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Viking Lake matches its peer on species count.