Wells Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric Wells Lake fails the cutoffs — a TSI of 71 and persistent algal pressure put it in the bottom tier.

Hypereutrophic conditions mean the lake is operating at the upper end of the productivity scale, with all the bloom risk that implies. At only 4 ft deep, Wells Lake is shallow — wind keeps the water column mixed and sediment resuspension drives phosphorus levels harder to manage. The lake's 677 acres and 12.5 miles of shoreline put it in the mid-range bucket — large enough for varied use, small enough that watershed inputs reach the whole basin. Within the 12 graded lakes of Rice County, Wells Lake sits at rank 11, near the bottom of the county list.

An invasive species record — flowering rush — has been logged at Wells Lake; Minnesota PCA maintains the official infested-waters list. Walleye are documented at Wells Lake, one of 15 fish species on record for the lake. No formal public access is documented at Wells Lake — most use is by shoreline residents and their guests. Ice-out has been logged at Wells Lake more than two dozen times, putting the median around Mar 29 — a useful baseline for tracking climate trends. The grade is based on limited monitoring — fewer than three independent measurement years contribute, so future updates may shift the letter.