Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake
Sarasota County, FloridaView mapDirections
Florida DEP publishes the water-quality measurements for Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- Impaired · Mercury
- 21 ft max depth
Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake in Sarasota County, Florida has water-quality measurements published by Florida DEP, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.2 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 275 µg/L.
Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake is a highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Sarasota County, Florida with an estimated average depth of about 21 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 29 other monitored lakes in Sarasota County, Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake ranks #28 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, FDEP, last sampled 2024-12-30. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyElevated nutrients
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. Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Sarasota-Lower Myakka 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 Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake
These are the measurements Florida DEP publishes for Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake, 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 2.2 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 275 µg/L. TSI 75.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 2.2ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 275µg/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. | 75 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~21 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 Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
246 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
467 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
4.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
7 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.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake in Sarasota County, Florida — 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 Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake
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Fishing Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2023–2024). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Stable2 years
Phosphorus
Improving-383 µg/L/yr2 years
EPA Impairment Status
Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Fish consumption.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit FL1981 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Sarasota County
Frequently asked questions about Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake
Where is Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake?
- Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake is a lake in Sarasota County, Florida. Its water-quality measurements are published by Florida DEP and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake?
- Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake in Sarasota County, Florida has water-quality measurements published by Florida DEP, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.2 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 275 µg/L.
Is Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Sarasota-Lower Myakka Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 21 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
32 measurements from 3 monitoring stations, 2023–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- FLORIDA LAKEWATCH
21FLKWAT_WQX32 samples · 2023–2024
Monitoring station identifiers (3)
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)