Updated Aug 2026
West Virginia Lake Water Quality
38 lakes across 27 counties, 4 with a recent water-quality reading.
Lake Map
Get West Virginia water-quality updates
New water-quality readings for West Virginia lakes as WVDEP publishes them. Unsubscribe anytime.
Where to stay near West Virginia's major lakes
Cabins, resorts, and vacation rentals around Summersville Lake and the other major West Virginia lakes pinned on the map. Live availability and prices.
Top-rated places to stay near Summersville Lake
Prices for Oct 9–11, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
Availability and prices from Stay22 partners (Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia). We may earn a commission from bookings, at no extra cost to you.
West Virginia fishing & travel
Reservoirs in West Virginia
View all 5 reservoirs →5 of 38 West Virginia lakes (13%) are man-made reservoirs in the USACE National Inventory of Dams. 5 carry a High or Significant hazard rating. The oldest matched dam dates to 1961.
EPA-Impaired Lakes in West Virginia
View all 9 impaired lakes →9 of 38 West Virginia lakes (24%) are officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the most recent EPA ATTAINS reporting cycle. 1 have an approved Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) restoration plan.
West Virginia Fishing & Recreation
Licenses, regulations, records, and where to fish across West Virginia.
Counties
All 27 West Virginia counties, ranked by average lake water quality. Compare them against every county nationwide in the county rankings, browse the full directory of lakes, or pick a different state.
West Virginia lists 38 lakes across 27 counties, 4 of them with a recent clarity, phosphorus or algae reading. The rest are here because they are real named lakes, listed for their size, depth and location.
By surface area the largest lake here is Summersville Lake, at about 2,790 acres, and 12 of the lakes in this index cover more than 500 acres. Size is worth knowing before you go: a large deep basin buffers nutrient inputs by sheer volume, while a shallow one warms quickly and can turn over its whole water column in a single summer storm.
Lake Match
Which lake suits how you actually use one?
Six questions — swimming, fishing, quiet, cabins, drive time — and a shortlist of lakes that fit, with the water quality behind each one.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys and the EPA Water Quality Portal.
More on lake water quality
A data snapshot of the lakes we track: the clearest and the greenest states, and where the water is improving.
How nutrient and algae readings are read against EPA ecoregion condition classes, what each class means in the water, and why a clean reading is not a clearance.
The clearest lakes in America, ranked by measured Secchi depth in feet from EPA monitoring data — and why the famously clear lakes are missing.