Watap Lake

The LakeGrade rubric puts Watap Lake at a C: clarity at 9.0 ft, phosphorus readings still being added, and a TSI of 45 signal an intermediate trophic state. Clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a all rate similarly, so there is no obvious single lever to pull on watershed management.

The lake sits in the mesotrophic zone — the band where most well-managed Minnesota lakes fall. At 210 ft of maximum depth, Watap Lake stratifies reliably through the summer — the hypolimnion stays cooler and clearer than the surface layer suggests. At 1,993 acres, Watap Lake is one of the larger lakes in Cook County, with 35.7 miles of shoreline supporting multiple distinct use patterns. Within Cook County's 128 graded lakes, Watap Lake ranks 93 — below the local median, though not at the bottom.

Watap Lake has no invasive species recorded in Minnesota state databases as of 2024, though prevention practices still apply at all access points. 1 fish species are documented at Watap Lake, a mixed warm-water community typical for Minnesota lakes of this size. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. 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.