Okauchee Lake-Site No. 1-Near Okauchee

On the LakeGrade scale Okauchee Lake-Site No. 1-Near Okauchee grades a B, with clarity readings still being added and 28 µg/L of phosphorus placing it above the Wisconsin median. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

Eutrophic conditions are the baseline here: clarity drops noticeably in late summer, and dissolved oxygen near the bottom can become a concern. Okauchee Lake-Site No. 1-Near Okauchee is unusually deep for Wisconsin at 90 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. With 1,210 acres of surface and partial shoreline records, Okauchee Lake-Site No. 1-Near Okauchee is a large water by Wisconsin standards — recreational pressure is spread across a long shoreline. Within the 48 graded lakes of Waukesha County, Okauchee Lake-Site No. 1-Near Okauchee sits at rank 40, near the bottom of the county list.

Okauchee Lake-Site No. 1-Near Okauchee is on the Wisconsin infested-waters list for zebra mussels — boaters should follow clean-drain-dry protocols when moving gear to or from the lake. Walleye are documented at Okauchee Lake-Site No. 1-Near Okauchee, one of 6 fish species on record for the lake. Public access is available — the lake is on the Wisconsin DNR public-access list. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.