What are eutrophic lakes in North Dakota?

52 eutrophic lakes in North Dakota. High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity.

What does eutrophic mean?

High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity.

Eutrophic Lakes in North Dakota

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. 52 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 carry higher phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings. The same nutrient richness that defines the trophic class shows up in those numbers.

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

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.