Eutrophic Lakes in North Dakota

55 eutrophic lakes in North Dakota. 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. 55 North Dakota 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	Sweetwater Lake	Ramsey	B	3 ft	-	71
2	Gordon Center Lake	Rolette	B	8.2 ft	-	50
3	Powers Lake Dredge Site	Mountrail	B	3.9 ft	-	64
4	Powers Lake	Mountrail	B	5.6 ft	-	61
5	Belourt Outlet Lake	Rolette	B	3 ft	-	56
6	Belcourt Center Lake	Rolette	B	3 ft	-	57
7	Belcourt Inlet Lake	Rolette	B	3.3 ft	-	56
8	Lake Metigoshe	Bottineau	B	5.4 ft	-	53
9	Lake Audubon	McLean	B	4.7 ft	-	51
10	Free Peoples Lake	Benson	B	-	-	52
11	Mission Bay Lake	Benson	B	-	-	54
12	Clausen Springs Lake	Barnes	B	-	-	55
13	Dry Lake	Ramsey	C	2.8 ft	-	72
14	E A Patterson Lake	Stark	C	6 ft	-	64
15	Jamestown Reservoir	Stutsman	C	7.2 ft	-	65
16	Lake Tschida	Grant	C	4.6 ft	-	54
17	Devils Lake	Benson	C	3.7 ft	-	67
18	Larimore Dam Lake	Grand Forks	C	3 ft	-	66
19	Lake Tschida	Grant	C	2.4 ft	-	57
20	East Arroda Lake	Oliver	C	5.6 ft	-	54
21	Belfield Dam Lake	Stark	C	3.8 ft	-	55
22	Blacktail Dam Lake	Williams	C	7.2 ft	-	54
23	Harmony Lake	Mercer	C	2.3 ft	-	60
24	Indian Creek Dam Lake	Hettinger	C	3.1 ft	-	61
25	Kalina Dam Lake	Bowman	C	3.1 ft	-	64
26	Sheep Creek Dam Lake	Grant	C	2.7 ft	-	67
27	Lutz Dam Lake	Bowman	C	14.4 ft	-	51
28	Kettle Lake	Williams	C	5.3 ft	-	51
29	Beaver Lake	Logan	C	1.4 ft	-	63
30	Custer Mine Pond	McLean	C	2.2 ft	-	54
31	North Carlson Lake	Ward	C	3.7 ft	-	51
32	Hiddenwood Lake	Ward	C	3.1 ft	-	53
33	Mcleod Reservoir	Williams	C	5.4 ft	-	69
34	Horseshoe Lake	Eddy	C	-	-	60
35	Patterson Lake	Stark	C	-	-	68
36	Lake Alice	Ramsey	D	3.1 ft	-	70
37	Lake Laretta	Nelson	D	3.3 ft	-	68
38	Lake Irvine	Ramsey	D	2.5 ft	-	70
39	Devils Lake	Ramsey	D	5.2 ft	-	67
40	Pelican Lake	Ramsey	D	3.7 ft	-	70
41	Mcdowell Dam Lake	Burleigh	D	1.6 ft	-	62
42	East Devils Lake	Ramsey	D	6.6 ft	-	64
43	Warsing Dam Lake	Eddy	D	2.3 ft	-	64
44	Nygren Dam Lake	Morton	D	2.6 ft	-	64
45	Epping-Springbrook Dam-Deepest Lake	Williams	D	4.9 ft	-	71
46	Castle Rock Dam Lake	Hettinger	D	3.8 ft	-	65
47	Larson Lake	Hettinger	D	4.8 ft	-	69
48	Gascoyne Lake	Bowman	D	1.3 ft	-	67
49	Bowman-Haley Dam Lake	Bowman	D	3.9 ft	-	61
50	Bader Lake	Stutsman	D	1.3 ft	-	65
51	White Earth Dam Lake	Mountrail	D	3 ft	-	63
52	Tioga Dam Lake	Williams	D	2.2 ft	-	68
53	Clearwater Lake	Mountrail	D	2.1 ft	-	58
54	Cherry Lake	Kidder	D	2.2 ft	-	55
55	Frettum Dam Lake	Kidder	D	2.6 ft	-	56

All eutrophic lakes →Minnesota version →Wisconsin version →Illinois version →Michigan version →Iowa version →Ohio version →Pennsylvania version →New York version →Missouri version →Indiana 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 North Dakota lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.