Oligotrophic Lakes in Kansas

11 oligotrophic lakes in Kansas. Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

Oligotrophic lakes are the clear, cold, nutrient-poor end of the trophic scale. The Carlson Trophic State Index measures this as TSI below 40 — water transparent enough to see 15+ feet down, total phosphorus under 12 µg/L, chlorophyll-a barely registering. Across {{stateName}}, 11 lakes register as oligotrophic — 0% of them break 50 feet of depth, which is the structural condition that underwrites the trophic class. Without depth and a low-nutrient watershed, oligotrophy is hard to sustain.

On the LakeGrade rubric, oligotrophic lakes almost always pull an A or B — the same low-nutrient conditions that produce the trophic class also produce the high grade.

#	Lake	County	Grade	Clarity	Depth	TSI
1	Wilson Lake	Russell	A	8.7 ft	-	18
2	Pottawatomie State Fishing Lake	Pottawatomie	A	8.3 ft	-	11
3	Big Spring Lake	Scott	A	-	-	26
4	Cedar Bluff Lake	Trego	B	5.9 ft	-	20
5	Lake Crawford	Crawford	B	5.1 ft	-	21
6	New Yates Center Lake	Woodson	B	5.2 ft	-	21
7	Madison City Lake	Greenwood	B	4.1 ft	-	20
8	Bone Creek Lake	Crawford	B	5.8 ft	-	20
9	Severy City Lake	Greenwood	B	3.6 ft	-	24
10	Colby City Pond	Thomas	B	-	-	19
11	Rooks Co State Fishing Lake	Rooks	B	2.9 ft	-	31

All oligotrophic lakes →Minnesota version →Wisconsin version →Illinois version →Michigan version →Iowa 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 →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 →All Kansas lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.