That's still not good. Hausladen said the clarity should be about three feet in August. August is a mucky time for lakes. A clear lake is the result of less runoff and what's in that runoff. Hausladen said that Winsted Lake is actually having its best year so far.
Several reasons can attribute to that fact.
About 75 percent of the watershed is agricultural. The county ditch handles runoff from almost 18,000 acres which has an inlet into Winsted Lake. Keeping ditches clean is a big part of maintaining healthy lakes and rivers. Something as simple as grass stripping is a big deterrent to soil runoff, Hausladen said. Since the ditch was dug, in the early 1900s, Hausladen estimated that about 900,000 tons of soil has arrived in Winsted Lake.