St. Joseph County Lake Quality

St. Joseph County in Michigan carries 54 monitored lakes — one of the lake-richer counties in our dataset. Coverage that dense usually reflects active lake-association sampling alongside state-agency monitoring. 5 of those lakes carry an A–F grade. The county-level summary describes that subset, not every water body listed. The county-wide average lands at B — solid water quality with most lakes carrying clear summer transparency and low-to-moderate phosphorus.

The county's lakes lean shallow, which makes the grades sensitive to wind, sediment-resuspension, and any nutrient inputs from the watershed. The cleanest lake on the books is Templene Lake (A); the most-stressed is Palmer Lake (D).