Eutrophic Lakes in Iowa

54 eutrophic lakes in Iowa. High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity.

A eutrophic lake is a productive ecosystem with the trade-offs that come with productivity: more food at the base of the food web, more clarity reduction by mid-summer, more dissolved-oxygen variability near the bottom. 54 Iowa lakes register as eutrophic. Only 0% are deep — eutrophy correlates with shallowness, agricultural watersheds, and the kind of nutrient-input history that takes decades to shift.

Eutrophic lakes typically grade C or D on the LakeGrade rubric. The same nutrient richness that defines the trophic class drives the lower grade.

#	Lake	County	Grade	Clarity	Depth	TSI
1	Storm Lake Max Depth	Buena Vista	B	1.7 ft	-	66
2	Arrowhead Lake	Sac	B	5.6 ft	-	51
3	Kent Park Lake	Johnson	B	4.8 ft	-	53
4	Mariposa Lake	Jasper	B	5.1 ft	-	53
5	Mormon Trail Lake	Adair	B	6.2 ft	-	51
6	Newell Pit Lake	Buena Vista	B	4.1 ft	-	56
7	Bob White Lake	Wayne	B	0.6 ft	-	74
8	Willow Lake	Harrison	B	4.8 ft	-	54
9	Lake Wapello	Davis	B	7.5 ft	-	52
10	Poll Miller Park Lake	Lee	B	5.9 ft	-	51
11	Lake Minnewashta	Dickinson	C	2.8 ft	-	60
12	Upper Gar Lake	Dickinson	C	3.9 ft	-	58
13	Railroad Lake	Scott	C	5.1 ft	-	55
14	Big Spirit Lake	Dickinson	C	5.5 ft	-	58
15	Mitchell Lake	Black Hawk	C	2.3 ft	-	61
16	Lost Grove Lake	Scott	C	3.9 ft	-	56
17	Blue Grass Lake	Scott	C	4.5 ft	-	58
18	Oldham Lake	Monona	C	5.1 ft	-	55
19	Rathbun Lake	Appanoose	C	3 ft	-	60
20	Green Belt Lake	Black Hawk	C	2.4 ft	-	62
21	Lake Petocka	Polk	C	3.3 ft	-	57
22	Lake of the Hills	Scott	C	5.1 ft	-	58
23	Stolley Pit Lake	Clay	C	2.7 ft	-	60
24	Thomas Mitchell Lake	Polk	C	3.3 ft	-	61
25	Lost Island Lake	Palo Alto	D	2.6 ft	-	63
26	Nodaway Lake	Adair	D	2.8 ft	-	63
27	Loch Ayr Lake	Ringgold	D	2 ft	-	66
28	Clear Lake	Cerro Gordo	D	2.1 ft	-	63
29	Pleasant Creek Lake	Linn	D	3.6 ft	-	59
30	Hooper Pond Lake	Warren	D	2.5 ft	-	63
31	Lower Gar Lake	Dickinson	D	2.6 ft	-	63
32	Manteno Lake	Shelby	D	2.7 ft	-	67
33	Lake Cornelia	Wright	D	2.5 ft	-	60
34	Hawthorn Lake	Mahaska	D	2.4 ft	-	64
35	Yellow Smoke Lake	Crawford	D	3 ft	-	62
36	Easter Lake	Polk	D	2.9 ft	-	61
37	Three Mile Lake	Union	D	2.7 ft	-	62
38	Otter Creek Lake	Tama	D	1.3 ft	-	65
39	East Okoboji Lake	Dickinson	D	3.9 ft	-	61
40	Lake Macbride	Johnson	D	2.9 ft	-	63
41	West Lake Osceola	Clarke	D	2.2 ft	-	65
42	Spring Lake	Cherokee	D	2.5 ft	-	65
43	Cold Springs Lake	Cass	D	4.8 ft	-	57
44	Gustafson Lake	Buena Vista	D	2.3 ft	-	63
45	Binder Lake	Adams	D	3 ft	-	63
46	Central Park Lake	Jones	D	3.3 ft	-	61
47	Moorehead Lake	Ida	D	3.7 ft	-	62
48	Springbrook Lake	Guthrie	D	3 ft	-	62
49	Dog Creek Lake	O'Brien	D	3.4 ft	-	61
50	Mill Creek Lake	O'Brien	D	3 ft	-	63
51	Lake Meyer	Winneshiek	D	3.1 ft	-	61
52	Hickory Grove Lake	Story	D	3.6 ft	-	60
53	Snyder Bend Lake	Woodbury	D	2.1 ft	-	66
54	Fisher Lake	Black Hawk	D	2.6 ft	-	68

All eutrophic lakes →Minnesota version →Wisconsin version →Illinois version →Michigan version →Ohio version →Pennsylvania version →New York version →Missouri version →Indiana version →North Dakota version →South Dakota version →Florida version →Colorado version →North Carolina version →Vermont version →Texas version →Oregon version →Arkansas version →Oklahoma version →Kansas version →Nebraska version →Nevada version →Arizona version →Idaho version →Montana version →New Mexico version →Tennessee version →Alabama version →Virginia version →Kentucky version →Utah version →Washington version →Wyoming version →Georgia version →Massachusetts version →Ontario version →Québec version →All Iowa lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.