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 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 North Dakota range, with one or two lakes pulling the average up or down depending on year.

The county's lakes lean shallow, which makes the readings sensitive to wind, sediment-resuspension, and any nutrient inputs from the watershed. The cleanest measured lake is Jamestown Reservoir.