Odana Pond
Dane County, Wisconsin14 acresView mapDirections
Wisconsin DNR publishes the water-quality measurements for Odana Pond. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 5 ft max depth
Odana Pond in Dane County, Wisconsin has water-quality measurements published by Wisconsin DNR, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 315.5 µg/L. Maximum depth: 5 ft. Surface area: 14 acres.
Odana Pond is a 14-acre highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Dane County, Wisconsin with a maximum depth of 5 feet. Compared to the 14 other monitored lakes in Dane County, Odana Pond ranks #7 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Wisconsin DNR Surface Water, last sampled 2025-08-31. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Odana Pond covers about 14 acres in Dane County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Odana Pond on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
Odana Pond Water Quality Summary (2026)
A printable one-page summary for Odana Pond: clarity, phosphorus, algae, multi-year trend, depth, and fish — with sources.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyRecreation use not supported
Based on clarity and algae readings from past sampling — there is no live water temperature and a current cyanobacteria reading for this lake. Check your state or county health department before you swim.
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Odana Pond is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), salinity / chlorides. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Odana Pond is safe to swim in today is a call for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Odana Pond
These are the measurements Wisconsin DNR publishes for Odana Pond, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Very murky, less than 1 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 315.5 µg/L. TSI 82.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 316µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading The green pigment in algae — a direct measure of how much algae is in the water. | |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 82 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Odana Pond
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Current Conditions
USGS snapshot Jul 6, 2026, 5:20 AM from gauge 430245089273701 (Odana Golf Course East Pond Outlet at Madison, WI). Station page ↗ — a live reading replaces this snapshot when the gauge responds. Missing live data is not an all-clear.
WI DNR Lake Profile
Authoritative data from the Wisconsin DNR LakePages. Monitored by volunteers since 2007. 2 stations on file (most recent sample 2025).
Lake Details
Max depth
5 ft
Surface area
14 acres
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Odana Pond
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Odana Pond in Dane County, Wisconsin — 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. The water-quality readings cover nutrients and algae, not lodging. Cabins and rentals around Odana Pond are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Odana Pond
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Fishing Odana Pond
Water Quality Trend: Stable
Based on 6 years of monitoring (2020–2025).
Water clarity
Stable6 years
Phosphorus
Stable-2.57 µg/L/yr6 years
EPA Impairment Status
Odana Pond is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life, Recreation.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit WI10022173 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Dane County
Frequently asked questions about Odana Pond
Where is Odana Pond?
- Odana Pond is a lake in Dane County, Wisconsin. Its water-quality measurements are published by Wisconsin DNR and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Odana Pond?
- Odana Pond in Dane County, Wisconsin has water-quality measurements published by Wisconsin DNR, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 315.5 µg/L. Maximum depth: 5 ft. Surface area: 14 acres.
Is Odana Pond safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Odana Pond is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), salinity / chlorides. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Odana Pond?
- Odana Pond has a maximum depth of 5 feet. The lake covers 14 acres.
What is the water level at Odana Pond?
- The USGS snapshot on this page for Odana Pond is 0.51 ft of gage height, recorded Jul 6, 2026, 5:20 AM at gauge 430245089273701. Current Conditions hydrates a live NWIS reading from that same station when the gauge responds. A missed live fetch is not an all-clear.
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Where this data comes from
44 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
WIDNR_WQX44 samples · 2020–2025
Analytical methods
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database
Fish and recreation data from Wisconsin DNR Lakes