Poor Lake
Gogebic County, Michigan107 acresView mapDirections
EGLE publishes the water-quality measurements for Poor Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 20 ft max depth
- Limited data
Poor Lake in Gogebic County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 9 ft visibility. Surface area: 107.1 acres.
Poor Lake is a 107-acre lake in Gogebic County, Michigan with an estimated average depth of about 20 feet. Water clarity is improving over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, EGLE, last sampled 2022-09-12. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Poor Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Poor Lake
These are the measurements EGLE publishes for Poor Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Moderate clarity, visible to about 9 ft. TSI 45.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 9ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| 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. | 45 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Poor Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~20 ft est.
Surface area
107 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Michigan has not published bathymetry for Poor Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
0 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.2 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,683 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 Poor Lake
Water Quality Trend: Stable
Based on 7 years of monitoring (2016–2023).
Water clarity
Improving7 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+0.6 µg/L/yr7 years
Nearby Lakes in Gogebic County
Frequently asked questions about Poor Lake
Where is Poor Lake?
- Poor Lake is a lake in Gogebic County, Michigan. Its water-quality measurements are published by EGLE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Poor Lake?
- Poor Lake in Gogebic County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 9 ft visibility. Surface area: 107.1 acres.
Is Poor Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Poor Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Poor Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 20 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate. The lake covers 107.1 acres.
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Where this data comes from
120 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2016–2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-26.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS120 samples · 2016–2022
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)