A vacation rental company's report that shows Lake Okeechobee to be the dirtiest lake in the United States may not be all-encompassing, one Florida water expert says.
Lake.com is a Canadian-based vacation rental platform offering lake houses, cabins and cottages for rent.
The company’s newly issued report says that Lake Okeechobee is America’s dirtiest lake.
The report said that an amount of lead was detected in its most recent samples. There is no safe level of lead, and its presence in lakes is unnatural. Additionally, the report said turbidity here was the second-highest of all evaluated lakes after Utah Lake, giving the impression of rather cloudy water. One cause for the murky appearance of Lake Okeechobee may be high levels of phosphorus, which stimulates algae growth.
Gil Smith, executive director of VoteWater.org, said there are some questions about the study’s methodology.
"The study evaluated eight of the most commonly measured characteristics that suggest a lake's cleanliness level, like dissolved oxygen, phosphorus, lead and turbidity, among others, and found only 46 of the country's 100 biggest lakes had at least three of those pollution factors measured between January 1, 2020 and July 15, 2025, so it's possible some of those lakes that might not have been sampled during that time are actually dirtier," Smith said.
Smith did concede the study confirms that Lake O has a pollution problem, which has been known for a long time, and the problem is it's not really getting any better.
"Pollutants continue to flow into the lake from the north. What really needs to happen is the lake needs to be dredged, but just imagine the size of that project and the price tag," he said.
Smith said there's no simple answer here other than it's clear more needs to be done, and it's going to take a lot of political will to do it.
One other Florida impoundment, Lake George, which is in Volusia and Putnam counties, also made the top 10 dirtiest U.S. lakes.
According to the study, the cleanest U.S. lake was Lake Superior.
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