How far north do you have to get in Minnesota to find crystal clear water in the lakes? (Shoreview: high school, beach)

[mn shutterbug]

As someone mentioned, Green Lake north of Willmar is very clear but it's one of the very few in that area that have much clarity. Most of the lakes in the Alexandria area have clarity of at least 10 feet and when you get as far north as Park Rapids and beyond, many lakes have clarity in the teens. I stopped at a boat landing near Park Rapids the other day when I was up there and was amazed at the how clear it was. I checked online and the average clarity of that lake is 18 1/2 feet.

The clearest lakes will be in areas away from farm land. I live in the southwest part of the state which is primarily agricultural land and the runoff of chemicals and fertilizer gives the lakes around here an average clarity of less than a foot. Pretty disgusting.

[havana day dreaming]

......yes there are clear lakes in the brainerd area, the farther north the more there are..... if you want the grand daddy of them all drive up hiway 61 to Duluth, to lake Superior. then up to the north shore drive to thunder bay, ontario....about as good as it gets......

[theedgeoflight]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o83xxWCel8g

[slamont61]

We've got plenty of crystal clear water, one only needs to turn on the taps to see it. Visible even in Southern Minnesota.

[Minntoaz]

Central Minnesota. Must've been a small, weedy lake.

[Brushwolf]

Eagle Lake in west central Mn is crystal clear and you can see the bottom. Or, at least you could 20 years ago. Last time I was there, but remember it, as it was so exceptionally clear.

[slamont61]

Originally Posted by Minntoaz

Central Minnesota. Must've been a small, weedy lake.

I'm seeing it everywhere... little lakes completely covered by Green with white flowers popping out.


I suspect the frogs are happy.

[mn shutterbug]

Originally Posted by slamont61

I'm seeing it everywhere... little lakes completely covered by Green with white flowers popping out.

I believe those are called lily pads.

[Nn2036]

Originally Posted by Destiny74

I think your definition of crystal clear may be the problem. You could not see the bottom of any lake 20 feet down, no matter how clear.. the there is no light that deep. And sorry, there are fish and there 'biproducts' floating around too..

Lake Tahoe you can see 70 feet down

https://www.keeptahoeblue.org/protect/water

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Nn2036

Lake Tahoe you can see 70 feet down

https://www.keeptahoeblue.org/protect/water

unfortunately, Tahoe like other lakes is heading in the wrong direction, from your link...

The focus of the League to Save Lake Tahoe is water quality and clarity in Lake Tahoe. The clarity of Lake Tahoe was first made famous by Mark Twain in the 1880s. Tragically, the pristine clarity of Lake Tahoe as experienced by early visitors is no more. Consisten scientific measurements of water clarity started in 1968. At that point, one could see a white disk submerged to a depth of 100 feet. Today, clarity has dropped to around 70 feet. That means Tahoe is losing about one foot of clarity per year.