Silver Lake

Silver Lake earns a C — middle-of-the-pack water quality, with one or two parameters dragging the average down from a stronger grade. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

Mesotrophic conditions dominate at Silver Lake: enough nutrients for a healthy fishery, not so much that algal blooms become a chronic problem. The lake's maximum depth is not yet documented in state morphometric records — context for its physical structure remains limited. At 85 acres, Silver Lake sits below the Wisconsin median: a small water where shoreline activity has an outsized effect on water quality. Within the 34 graded lakes of Walworth County, Silver Lake sits at rank 26, near the bottom of the county list.

Eurasian watermilfoil has been documented at Silver Lake, requiring shoreline management to keep dense mats from crowding native vegetation. The state fisheries records do not list documented species for Silver Lake, which usually reflects a lack of formal fisheries survey work rather than an empty lake. A documented public access point at Silver Lake makes the lake usable for shore fishing, paddle craft, and trailered boats. Monitoring depth is thin here: the LakeGrade rubric is applied to a small number of sample years, and the grade will be revised as more data accumulates.