Stutsman County Lake Quality

Stutsman County has 51 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 an A–F grade. The county-level summary describes that subset, not every water body listed. The county average is C — the middle of the rubric, with one or two lakes pulling the average up or down depending on year.

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 Jamestown Reservoir (C); the most-stressed is Bader Lake (D).