Cross County Lake Quality

Cross County has 7 monitored lakes — a thin enough sample that one or two stressed lakes can move the county average noticeably. Use the per-lake pages below for what actually matters. 1 of those lake carry recent nutrient and algae readings. The county-level summary describes that subset, not every water body listed. The county's readings sit in the middle of the Arkansas range, with one or two lakes pulling the average up or down depending on year.

Most of the county's monitored lakes are shallow, under 50 feet, which means wind keeps the water column mixed all summer and sediment-bound phosphorus releases back into the surface layer whenever the bottom is disturbed. Lake Austelle has the lowest nutrient and algae readings in the county.