Updated Aug 2026
Kansas Lake Water Quality
Water quality grades for 87 of the 239 lakes we list here, across 82 counties.
Grade Distribution
All 239 Kansas lakes in the index: 87 (36.4%) carry an A–F grade and 152 (63.6%) are not rated, because they lack enough recent nutrient or algae sampling to support a letter.
Top-Graded Kansas Lakes
The highest water-quality grades in Kansas — clarity, depth, and A-F grade at a glance.
Lake Map
Get Kansas water-quality updates
New grades, clarity readings, and algae advisories for Kansas lakes as samples come in. Unsubscribe anytime.
Where to stay near Kansas's top-graded lakes
Cabins, resorts, and vacation rentals around Wilson Lake (Russell County, KS) and the other top-graded Kansas lakes pinned on the map. Live availability and prices.
Top-rated places to stay near Wilson Lake (Russell County, KS)
Prices for Sep 11–13, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
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Explore Kansas Lakes
Kansas reports, fishing & travel
Reservoirs in Kansas
View all 148 reservoirs →148 of 239 Kansas lakes (62%) are man-made reservoirs in the USACE National Inventory of Dams. 99 carry a High or Significant hazard rating. The oldest matched dam dates to 1911.
EPA-Impaired Lakes in Kansas
View all 139 impaired lakes →139 of 239 Kansas lakes (58%) are officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. 108 have an approved Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) restoration plan.
Kansas Fishing & Recreation
Licenses, regulations, records, and where to fish across Kansas.
Counties
All 82 Kansas counties, ranked by average lake water quality. Compare them against every county nationwide in the county rankings, browse the full directory of graded lakes, or pick a different state.
Top 25 Cleanest Lakes
25 lakes25 graded lakes
| # | Lake | County | Grade | Clarity | Trophic | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AWilson Lake | Russell | A | 8.7 ft | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 2 | ADouglas Co State Fishing Lake | Douglas | A | 9.5 ft | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 3 | APottawatomie State Fishing Lake | Pottawatomie | A | 7.6 ft | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 4 | APottawatomie State Fishing Lake | Pottawatomie | A | 8.3 ft | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 5 | AOsage Co State Fishing Lake | Osage | A | 6.2 ft | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 6 | AMelvern Lake | Osage | A | 4.8 ft | Mesotrophic | ✓ Public |
| 7 | ACedar Creek Reservoir | Bourbon | A | 8.2 ft | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 8 | AYates Center Reservoir | Woodson | A | 1.6 ft | Mesotrophic | Not recorded |
| 9 | BLake Crawford | Crawford | B | 5.1 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 10 | BGeary Co State Fishing Lake | Geary | B | 4.3 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 11 | BLake Wabaunsee | Wabaunsee | B | 4.9 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 12 | BLouisburg State Fishing Lake | Miami | B | 3 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 13 | BNew Olathe Lake | Johnson | B | 3.4 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 14 | BMadison City Lake | Greenwood | B | 4.1 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 15 | BParsons Lake | Neosho | B | 2 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 16 | BBone Creek Lake | Crawford | B | 5.8 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 17 | COlathe Lake | Johnson | C | 3 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 18 | CHillsdale Lake | Miami | C | 3.7 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 19 | CCedar Bluff Lake | Trego | C | 5.9 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 20 | CClinton Lake | Douglas | C | 3.8 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 21 | CKanopolis Lake | Ellsworth | C | 2.6 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 22 | CLeavenworth Co State Fishing Lake | Leavenworth | C | 4.3 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 23 | CMission Lake | Brown | C | 1 ft | Eutrophic | Not recorded |
| 24 | CEl Dorado Lake | Butler | C | 2.8 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
| 25 | CBig Hill Lake | Labette | C | 3.9 ft | Eutrophic | ✓ Public |
25 Lakes Needing Attention
25 lakes25 graded lakes
| # | Lake | County | Grade | Clarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FAntioch Park Lake | Johnson | F | No recent samples |
| 2 | FBig Eleven Lake | Wyandotte | F | No recent samples |
| 3 | FWater Works Park Lake | Johnson | F | No recent samples |
| 4 | FLeawood Park Lake | Johnson | F | No recent samples |
| 5 | FPierson Lake | Wyandotte | F | No recent samples |
| 6 | FSouth Lake | Johnson | F | No recent samples |
| 7 | FTomahawk Creek Park Lake | Johnson | F | No recent samples |
| 8 | FSar Ko Park Lake | Johnson | F | No recent samples |
| 9 | FKingston Lake Park | Johnson | F | No recent samples |
| 10 | FCentral Park Lake | Shawnee | F | 1.2 ft |
| 11 | FChanute Santa Fe Lake | Neosho | F | 1.8 ft |
| 12 | FSheridan Co State Fishing Lake | Sheridan | F | 1.1 ft |
| 13 | FQuivera Little Salt Marsh Lake | Stafford | F | 0.9 ft |
| 14 | FCheyenne Bottoms Pool | Barton | F | 0.4 ft |
| 15 | FJamestown Wildlife Area Lake | Cloud | F | 0.4 ft |
| 16 | FNorton Lake | Norton | F | 2 ft |
| 17 | FPomona Lake | Osage | F | 2.9 ft |
| 18 | FAugusta Santa Fe Lake | Butler | F | 1 ft |
| 19 | FLovewell Lake | Jewell | F | 1.3 ft |
| 20 | FNeosho Wildlife Area Lake | Neosho | F | 1.7 ft |
| 21 | FEllis City Lake | Ellis | F | 0.7 ft |
| 22 | FCedar Lake | Johnson | F | 1.6 ft |
| 23 | FLake Warnock | Atchison | F | 1.7 ft |
| 24 | FAtchison Co State Fishing Lake | Atchison | F | 2.8 ft |
| 25 | FVeteran'S Lake | Barton | F | 2.3 ft |
Kansas lists 239 lakes across 82 counties, 87 of which carry a grade. Most of the input behind those grades flows through monitoring run by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which feeds state, federal, and volunteer measurements into the EPA Water Quality Portal. The remainder are here because they are real named lakes, not because anyone has sampled them recently. A-grade lakes are scarce among the Kansas lakes that carry a letter: about 9% of them. Most sit in C or D, productive, often shallow, frequently algal in late summer.
Cheney Lake is the largest lake in this index at about 28,000 acres, one of 32 here that clear 500 acres. The rest run smaller, and small and shallow is where nutrient loading shows up first, because there is less water to dilute it and the bottom sediment stays within reach of the sun. The graded lakes lean eutrophic, with enough nutrient input to support an active algal community and the trade-offs in clarity and dissolved oxygen that come with it. The cleanest county on average is Russell (grade A); the most-stressed is Cloud. The gap between the top and bottom counties is large enough that a single figure for Kansas lake water quality hides real local variation.
Lake Match
Which lake suits how you actually use one?
Six questions — swimming, fishing, quiet, cabins, drive time — and a shortlist of graded lakes that fit, with the water quality behind each one.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys and the EPA Water Quality Portal.
More on lake water quality
A data snapshot of the lakes we grade: how the A–F distribution breaks down, the clearest and the greenest states, and where the water is improving.
How lakes are graded A–F on nutrients and algae using EPA ecoregion condition classes, what each letter means in the water, and why an A is not a clearance.
The cleanest and dirtiest U.S. lakes in the monitoring record, ranked on EPA nutrient and algae condition classes across thousands of graded lakes.
The clearest lakes in America, ranked by measured Secchi depth in feet from EPA monitoring data — and why the famously clear lakes are missing.