Wapello County Lake Quality

Wapello County holds 1 monitored lake. With a sample that small the county-level summary describes those specific waters, not necessarily every water body in the county. Every one of those lake carries an A–F grade, so the county-level summary covers the full set rather than a monitored subset. The county average is F — the most-stressed bracket in our rubric. Most monitored lakes here show persistent nutrient loading and algal pressure.

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. Ottumwa Lagoon Max Depth Lake (F) is the cleanest in the county.