Montcalm County Lake Quality

Montcalm County has 64 monitored lakes, enough that within-county variation matters as much as the county average. Some are deep glacial basins, others are shallow agricultural-watershed waters, and the measurements reflect that mix. 3 of those lakes carry recent nutrient and algae readings. The county-level summary describes that subset, not every water body listed. On average, Montcalm County lakes carry some of the lowest phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings in Michigan, with clear summer transparency across most monitored basins.

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. Crystal Lake has the lowest nutrient and algae readings in the county.