Oligotrophic Lakes in Missouri

17 oligotrophic lakes in Missouri. Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

An oligotrophic lake is what most people picture when they think of pristine northern lake country: clarity to depth, no algal scum, cold water that holds dissolved oxygen all the way to the bottom even in August. Across Missouri, 17 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	Lake Taneycomo @ Rockaway Beach	Taney	A	8.7 ft	-	40
2	Lake Shayne-Terre du Lac Lakes	Washington	A	11.1 ft	-	34
3	Lake Konstanz	Warren	A	7.7 ft	-	38
4	Lake Capri	St. Francois	A	16.3 ft	-	32
5	Council Bluff Lake	Iron	A	13.1 ft	-	34
6	Lake Taneycomo	Taney	A	8.9 ft	-	41
7	Lake Taneycomo	Taney	A	12.6 ft	-	38
8	Lake Wauwanoka	Jefferson	A	12.9 ft	-	37
9	Alpine Lake	Warren	A	12.6 ft	-	36
10	Timberline Lakes	St. Francois	A	14.3 ft	-	34
11	Lake Taneycomo Ab. Bee Cr. Arm	Taney	A	13.3 ft	-	37
12	Fourche Creek Lake	Ripley	A	13.6 ft	-	36
13	Lake Nehai Tonkayea	Chariton	A	8 ft	-	39
14	Goose Creek Lake	Ste. Genevieve	A	9.9 ft	-	39
15	Oasis Ranch Upper Lake	Audrain	A	14.4 ft	-	38
16	Oasis Ranch Lake	Audrain	A	14.1 ft	-	34
17	Lake Taneycomo @ Shepherd of the Hills Fh	Taney	C	-	-	41

All oligotrophic lakes →Minnesota version →Wisconsin version →Illinois version →Michigan version →Iowa version →Ohio version →Pennsylvania version →New York 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 Missouri lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.