Lotus Lake

Lotus Lake sits at a C on the grading scale — not impaired, not pristine, with summer measurements that vary year to year. With clarity and phosphorus scored, the sub-grades cluster within a letter of each other, pointing to stable conditions rather than one specific stressor.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. The lake bottoms out at 29 ft — a moderate depth that supports a warm-water fishery without the year-round cold refuge a deeper basin provides. Lotus Lake covers 245 acres alongside 4.8 miles of shoreline — a mid-sized water that supports a working fishery without being so large that conditions diverge between basins. Among the 40 graded lakes in Carver County, Lotus Lake sits at rank 15, above the county median.

Zebra mussel presence at Lotus Lake means the lake's clarity numbers carry an asterisk — filtered water is not the same as nutrient-poor water. Walleye are documented at Lotus Lake, one of 13 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Minnesota PCA public-access list. Ice-out has been recorded 20 times at Lotus Lake, with a median around Apr 4. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.