Part of the Chain of Lakes Regional Park, Lake of the Isles is located in the heart of the Kenwood neighborhood. The 93-acre lake is popular with walkers, bikers and those who enjoy canoeing, kayaking or paddle boarding. The lake is linked to Lake Calhoun by a canal that passes under Lake Street and to Cedar Lake by the Kenilworth Channel.  Lake of the Isles, with its naturalized shoreline and islands, enjoys an “excellent” ranking in aesthetics and habitat quality. Aquatic plants are abundant in Isles due to its good water clarity and shallower waters. Since Lake of the Isles does not have a swimming beach a score was not calculated for public health.

Water Clarity

About Secchi Disk Readings

To measure water transparency with a Secchi disk, the disk is lowered from the shaded side of a boat until it cannot be seen. The depth of the water is recorded at the point where the disk reappears upon raising it from its original depth beyond visibility. It is important to remember that the Secchi measurement is a simple, approximate measurement of water clarity and can be influenced by various factors such as time of day, reader’s eyesight, water color and suspended particles in the water. Therefore, Secchi disk readings should be used as a comparative tool to determine trends between lakes and over time.

  • Increased water clarity may be due to reduced nutrient inputs, seasonal algal cycles, decreased sediment inputs, and zooplankton grazing on algae.
  • Decreased water clarity may be due to large algal blooms, increased soil erosion inputs, wind circulation of sediments and nutrients, stormwater inputs, or a decrease in zooplankton.

Secchi readings for the lakes are done during the regular lake sampling schedule, with some lakes sampled every other year. Current Secchi readings taken during lake sampling can be found on the Lake Water Quality Map.

LAURI

Lake Aesthetic and User Recreation Index (LAURI)

Lake of the Isles 2025 LAURI readings. Aesthetics - excellent, water clarity - excellent, public health - no beach, habitat quality - excellent, and recreation access - excellent.

The Lake Aesthetic and User Recreation Index (LAURI) was designed to give recreational users an easily understandable graphical source of information about conditions affecting their use of city lakes. The goal is to have an accurate, science based and easily understandable recreational indicator for the public. The LAURI has the five following indices: aesthetic considerations, water clarity, public health, habitat quality, and recreational access. For each of the five indices, the LAURI calculates a value that is then considered poor, good, or excellent.

Click here to view more information on LAURI

Park Board Announcements

There are no announcements at this time. Please check back soon.