Green Water Lake

Green Water Lake earns an A — water clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate among the best monitored waters in Becker County. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Green Water Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. At 57 ft of maximum depth, Green Water Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. At 74 acres, Green Water Lake sits below the Minnesota median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Green Water Lake ranks 36 of 93 in Becker County — solidly in the upper half of the local distribution.

Green Water Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2025, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. Bass fishing is part of the appeal: the species list runs to 9, anchored by largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. Monitoring depth is thin here: the LakeGrade rubric is applied to a small number of sample years, and the grade will be revised as more data accumulates.