Banner Creek Lake
Jackson County, Kansas535 acresView mapDirections
KDHE publishes the water-quality measurements for Banner Creek Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 25 ft max depth
- Limited data
Banner Creek Lake in Jackson County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 46.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 22.5 µg/L. Surface area: 535 acres.
Banner Creek Lake is a 535-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Jackson County, Kansas with an estimated average depth of about 25 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KDHE, last sampled 2017-06-12. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyRecreation use not supported
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. Banner Creek Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Banner Creek Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Banner Creek Lake
These are the measurements KDHE publishes for Banner Creek Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Very murky, less than 2.9 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 46.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 22.5 µg/L. TSI 61.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 2.9ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 46.5µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 22.5µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 61 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Banner Creek Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~25 ft est.
Surface area
535 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Kansas has not published bathymetry for Banner Creek Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
20 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
4.7 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,079 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.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Banner Creek Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Banner Creek Lake in Jackson County, Kansas — live availability and prices for your trip. Switch the map to Satellite to see the lake and how close each stay is to the water. The water-quality readings cover nutrients and algae, not lodging. Cabins and rentals around Banner Creek Lake are listed below.
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Fishing Banner Creek Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2013–2017). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Phosphorus
Improving-2.87 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+1.38 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Banner Creek Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Delaware Mpd No 36 (Banner Creek) (completed 1997), built primarily for water supply on the Banner Creek; earth-type dam, 64 ft tall and 3,100 ft long.
- Surface area
- 535 ac
- Normal storage
- 8,097 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 22,976 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 19 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- JACKSON COUNTY
All listed purposes: Water Supply;Flood Risk Reduction.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID KS07757 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Banner Creek Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Drinking water, Aquatic life, Recreation.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit KS-LM032001 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Jackson County
Frequently asked questions about Banner Creek Lake
Where is Banner Creek Lake?
- Banner Creek Lake is a lake in Jackson County, Kansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by KDHE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Banner Creek Lake?
- Banner Creek Lake in Jackson County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 46.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 22.5 µg/L. Surface area: 535 acres.
Is Banner Creek Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Banner Creek Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Banner Creek Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Banner Creek 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 535 acres.
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Where this data comes from
10 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2013–2017. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Kansas Department Of Health And Environment
21KAN001_WQX10 samples · 2013–2017
Analytical methods
- Depth, Secchi disk depth
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
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)