Polk County Lake Quality

Polk County has 9 monitored lakes — a thin enough sample that one or two stressed lakes can move the county average noticeably. Use the per-lake pages below for what actually matters. 1 of those lake carry an A–F grade. The county-level summary describes that subset, not every water body listed. On average, Polk County lakes grade D, with phosphorus loading and reduced clarity showing up across most of the dataset.

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 Livingston Reservoir (D); the most-stressed is Livingston Reservoir (D).