How far north do you have to get in Minnesota to find crystal clear water in the lakes?

[mn shutterbug]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

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.

In 69 years Lake Tahoe will still be clearer than the lakes in southwest MN.

[Izzie1213]

Sad but true the invasive zebra a muscle clarify water. They are now in one of best clearest lakes in the Brainard area, Pelican. Its sad. I spent some time scraping zebras from a native lake clam, zebras slowly cover and kill them. Kind of futile.

A long time ago one of the clearest lake was Christmas Lake in Shoreview, in the Minnetoka, Chaska area. I had heard it was a favorite for scuba divers. Back in high school we would swim off the public boat launch. There is no public beach but I guess it still is a favorite for anglers. It was treated for something evasive last year so don't know what up with it now.

[katrenco]

Clear water isn't necessarily indicative of a healthy lake. Those lakes that are badly infested with invasive Zebra mussels are typically very clear because the mussels devour so much of the microscopic plant and animal life, which can starve out other fish and wildlife that depend on the same food for survival. Clearer waters allows more sunlight at greater depth which triggers another host of problems, some that are catastrophic to native habitat. So, while it looks very attractive, clear water can be a sign of a starving eco system.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by Old retired folks

I visited friends last week who lived in Central Minnesota on a lake. I was discouraged when I looked at the lake and found the water brown and ugly. I was always told the lakes in Minnesota were crystal clear and clean and you could see the bottom of the lake in 20 feet of water.

Maybe I did not go far enough north. Do I have to go near the Canadian border in Minnesota to see lakes that are crystal clear?

It isn't always "north" that determines water clarity. With that said, most of the lakes "north" tend to be clearer due to many reasons.

[knke0204]

North Long Lake near Brainerd is a lake I grew up on and it's incredibly clear. Not crystal clear, but a very "clean" lake.

[jennifat]

My brother-in-law works for the Minnesota DNR. He's always said that a crystal-clear lake is a "dead lake".

[wamer27]

Square Lake north of Stillwater is clear and is used for scuba diving often. Friend who travels the world doing it learned and practices on the lake.