What are oligotrophic lakes in Vermont?

26 oligotrophic lakes in Vermont. Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

What does oligotrophic mean?

Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

Oligotrophic Lakes in Vermont

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 Vermont, 26 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.

Oligotrophic lakes almost always carry the lowest phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings on record, since the same low-nutrient conditions produce both the trophic class and the clear water.

#	Lake	County	Clarity	Depth	TSI
1	Berlin Pond	Washington	21.7 ft	-	32
2	Caspian Lake	Orleans	29.5 ft	-	32
3	Harveys Lake	Caledonia	21 ft	-	34
4	Maidstone Lake	Essex	28.5 ft	-	32
5	Seymour Lake	Orleans	24.6 ft	-	33
6	Lowell Lake	Windham	13.5 ft	-	37
7	Echo Lake	Orleans	23 ft	-	34
8	Echo Lake	Windsor	13.9 ft	-	36
9	Echo Lake	Rutland	24.3 ft	-	34
10	Little Averill Pond	Essex	19.4 ft	-	34
11	Lake Willoughby	Orleans	28.2 ft	-	33
12	Sunset Lake	Rutland	36.1 ft	-	31
13	Newark Pond	Caledonia	20.4 ft	-	36
14	Shadow Lake	Orleans	28.9 ft	-	32
15	Shadow Lake	Essex	16.4 ft	-	35
16	Lake Bomoseen	Rutland	23.6 ft	-	34
17	Forest Lake	Washington	25.6 ft	-	32
18	Silver Lake	Addison	8.2 ft	-	37
19	Great Averill Pond	Essex	14.3 ft	-	35
20	Lake Elligo	Orleans	26.2 ft	-	31
21	Green River Reservoir	Lamoille	13.1 ft	-	36
22	Amherst Lake	Windsor	15.4 ft	-	35
23	Lake Paran	Bennington	-	-	40
24	Sunset Lake	Windham	17.9 ft	-	36
25	Reservoir Pond	Windsor	14.7 ft	-	32
26	Lewis Pond	Essex	-	-	38

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 →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 Vermont lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.