Echo Lake
Alger County, Michigan224 acresView mapDirections
No nutrient or algae sampling on record from EGLE for this lake.
- Impaired · Mercury
- 28 ft max depth
Echo Lake in Alger County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Maximum depth: 28 ft. Surface area: 224.4 acres.
Water clarity at Echo Lake
Moderate clarity. Across summers from 2018 to 2023, Echo Lake averaged 2.66 m (9 ft) of visibility down into the water, so visibility is middling in midsummer, which is ordinary for a productive inland lake. This lake sits close to the line between clarity classes, so treat the label as approximate and the depth reading as the real number.
Nobody has taken a water sample here that we can find. Michigan's environmental agency measures clarity on lakes like this one from satellite images instead, which is why this page reports how clear the water is and no phosphorus or algae readings.
Clear is not the same as clean. A lake can be easy to see through and still carry high nutrient levels, and a naturally tea-stained lake can be perfectly healthy. The nutrient and algae readings on other lakes come from phosphorus and chlorophyll-a measured in a laboratory, and clarity alone cannot stand in for them.
The same satellite images put summer algae here at roughly 4.13 micrograms per litre. Estimating algae from orbit is far less exact than measuring clarity, so that figure is worth knowing and is not part of any rating.
Echo Lake is a 224-acre lake in Alger County, Michigan with a maximum depth of 28 feet (15-foot average).
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, EGLE. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Echo Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Camping3 public campgrounds nearby
Swimming conditions
No readingNot rated
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Echo Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Echo Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Echo Lake
These are the measurements EGLE publishes for Echo Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data. TSI undefined.
Ask about Echo Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
28 ft
Average depth
15 ft
Surface area
224 acres
Shoreline
0.9 mi
Recreation & Access
Public campgrounds near Echo Lake
- Grand Island Cabins3.0 kmReserve
- Juniper Flats Group Campsite3.0 km
- Little Duck Campsite on Grand Island3.7 km
Nearest public campgrounds in the USGS National Map inventory, within about 3 miles. An empty list means USGS records no campground that close, which is not the same as camping being unavailable. Where the source gives an official reservation link, it is used; the cabin and hotel search does not cover campsites. More camping lakes
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Echo Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Echo Lake in Alger County, Michigan — live availability and prices for your trip. Switch the map to Satellite to see the lake and how close each stay is to the water.
Top-rated places to stay near Echo Lake
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Fishing Echo Lake
EPA Impairment Status
Echo Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Fish consumption.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit MI040203000001-03 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Alger County
Frequently asked questions about Echo Lake
Where is Echo Lake?
- Echo Lake is a lake in Alger County, Michigan. Its water-quality measurements are published by EGLE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Echo Lake?
- Echo Lake in Alger County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Maximum depth: 28 ft. Surface area: 224.4 acres.
Is Echo Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Echo Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Echo Lake?
- Echo Lake has a maximum depth of 28 feet and an average depth of 15 feet. The lake covers 224.4 acres.
Are there campgrounds on Echo Lake?
- Echo Lake has 3 public campgrounds from USGS The National Map within 5 km, including Grand Island Cabins, Juniper Flats Group Campsite, Little Duck Campsite on Grand Island. This is a location join, not a booking. Cabins and hotels are listed separately; campsite reservations use the official link when the source provides one.
Explore Echo Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
Measurements for Echo Lake come from the EPA Water Quality Portal. Per-sample source details are not recorded for this lake.
Other records on this page
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database
Public campgrounds from USGS The National Map Structures, within about 3 miles