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LakeQuality

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. 8 Vermont 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.

#LakeCountyClarityDepthTSI
1Long PondOrleans14.2 ft-45
2Lake IroquoisChittenden11.8 ft-47
3Big Mud PondRutland4.3 ft-51
4Bourn PondBennington5.6 ft-51
5Bald Hill PondOrleans13.1 ft-43
6Missisquoi Bay LakeFranklin5.6 ft-55
7Lake CarmiFranklin4.9 ft-57
8St. Albans Bay LakeFranklin6.6 ft-53

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.