Polk-Saddlebag Lake
Polk County, FloridaView mapDirections
Florida DEP publishes the water-quality measurements for Polk-Saddlebag Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- 27 ft max depth
Polk-Saddlebag Lake in Polk County, Florida has water-quality measurements published by Florida DEP, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 10 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 9 µg/L.
Polk-Saddlebag Lake is a cold, clear oligotrophic lake in Polk County, Florida with an estimated average depth of about 27 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 176 other monitored lakes in Polk County, Polk-Saddlebag Lake ranks #92 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, FDEP, last sampled 2025-04-23. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Polk-Saddlebag Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water10 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLow algae
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. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Polk-Saddlebag Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Polk-Saddlebag Lake
These are the measurements Florida DEP publishes for Polk-Saddlebag Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Good clarity, visible to about 10 ft. Phosphorus 9 µg/L. TSI 40.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 10ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 9µg/L | Good 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. | 40 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Polk-Saddlebag Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~27 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Florida has not published bathymetry for Polk-Saddlebag Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
2 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
131 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
102 ft
Size, shoreline, and watershed area from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS). Mean depth here is modelled, not surveyed — HydroLAKES v1.0 estimates lake depth from surrounding terrain rather than from soundings. Treat it as an approximation, and prefer a state bathymetric survey where one exists.
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Fishing Polk-Saddlebag Lake
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 4 years of monitoring (2021–2024).
Water clarity
Improving4 years
Phosphorus
Improving-0.3 µg/L/yr4 years
Nearby Lakes in Polk County
Frequently asked questions about Polk-Saddlebag Lake
Where is Polk-Saddlebag Lake?
- Polk-Saddlebag Lake is a lake in Polk County, Florida. Its water-quality measurements are published by Florida DEP and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Polk-Saddlebag Lake?
- Polk-Saddlebag Lake in Polk County, Florida has water-quality measurements published by Florida DEP, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 10 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 9 µg/L.
Is Polk-Saddlebag Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Polk-Saddlebag Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Polk-Saddlebag Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 27 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
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Where this data comes from
220 measurements from 6 monitoring stations, 2021–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- FLORIDA LAKEWATCH
21FLKWAT_WQX220 samples · 2021–2025
Monitoring station identifiers (6)
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)