Ashley Lake
Berkshire County, Massachusetts106 acresView mapDirections
MassDEP publishes the water-quality measurements for Ashley Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Mesotrophic
- Impaired · Mercury
- 25 ft max depth
- Limited data
Ashley Lake in Berkshire County, Massachusetts has water-quality measurements published by MassDEP, shown here as reported. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 4.5 µg/L. Surface area: 106 acres.
Ashley Lake is a 106-acre mesotrophic lake in Berkshire County, Massachusetts with an estimated average depth of about 25 feet. Compared to the 7 other monitored lakes in Berkshire County, Ashley Lake ranks #3 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, MassDEP, last sampled 2016-09-20. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
Based on clarity and algae readings from past sampling — there is no live water temperature and a current cyanobacteria reading for this lake. Check your state or county health department before you swim.
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Ashley Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Ashley Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Ashley Lake
These are the measurements MassDEP publishes for Ashley Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data. Chlorophyll-a 4.5 µg/L. TSI 45.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | No reading How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. | |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 4.5µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 45 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Ashley Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~25 ft est.
Surface area
106 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Massachusetts has not published bathymetry for Ashley Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,936 ft
Size, shoreline, and watershed area from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS). Mean depth here is modelled, not surveyed — HydroLAKES v1.0 estimates lake depth from surrounding terrain rather than from soundings. Treat it as an approximation, and prefer a state bathymetric survey where one exists.
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Fishing Ashley Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Ashley Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Ashley Lake Reservoir Dam (completed 1901), built primarily for water supply on the Ashley Brook; earth-type dam, 22 ft tall and 850 ft long.
- Surface area
- 106 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,100 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,506 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 0.68 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- City of Pittsfield
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID MA00313 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Ashley Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Fish consumption.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit MA21003 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Berkshire County
Frequently asked questions about Ashley Lake
Where is Ashley Lake?
- Ashley Lake is a lake in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Its water-quality measurements are published by MassDEP and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Ashley Lake?
- Ashley Lake in Berkshire County, Massachusetts has water-quality measurements published by MassDEP, shown here as reported. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 4.5 µg/L. Surface area: 106 acres.
Is Ashley Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Ashley Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Ashley Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Ashley Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 25 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate. The lake covers 106 acres.
Explore Ashley Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
3 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2016. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)
MASSDEP3 samples · 2016
Analytical methods
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
Monitoring station identifiers (2)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)