Beaver Lake
Alpena County, Michigan676 acresView mapDirections
EGLE publishes the water-quality measurements for Beaver Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Mercury
- 70 ft max depth
- Limited data
Beaver Lake in Alpena County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 16.5 ft visibility. Maximum depth: 70 ft. Surface area: 675.9 acres.
Free interactive depth-contour map of Beaver Lake, reaching a maximum surveyed depth of 70 ft. Toggle Depth contours to overlay the bathymetric survey lines. Contour data from Michigan DNR.
Beaver Lake is a 676-acre lake in Alpena County, Michigan with a maximum depth of 70 feet. Water clarity is improving over recent sampling years. The lake supports 2 documented fish species including Brown bullhead and Lake herring.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, EGLE, last sampled 2022-09-03. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Beaver Lake covers about 680 acres in Alpena County. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Beaver Lake, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
What Beaver Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water16.5 ft of visibility
- Deep water70 ft surveyed max depth
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Beaver Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Beaver Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Beaver Lake
These are the measurements EGLE publishes for Beaver Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Crystal clear, you can see 16.5 ft down. TSI 37.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 16.5ft | Measured, not scored 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) | No reading The green pigment in algae — a direct measure of how much algae is in the water. | |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 37 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Beaver Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
70 ft
Surface area
676 acres
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Beaver Lake
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Fish Species
Click a species to see every lake where it is documented.
Fishing Beaver Lake
Water Quality Trend: Stable
Based on 7 years of monitoring (2016–2023).
Water clarity
Improving7 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+0.3 µg/L/yr7 years
Chlorophyll-a
Stable0 µg/L/yr7 years
EPA Impairment Status
Beaver Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Fish consumption.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit MI040700060101-02 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Alpena County
Frequently asked questions about Beaver Lake
Where is Beaver Lake?
- Beaver Lake is a lake in Alpena County, Michigan. Its water-quality measurements are published by EGLE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Beaver Lake?
- Beaver Lake in Alpena County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 16.5 ft visibility. Maximum depth: 70 ft. Surface area: 675.9 acres.
Is Beaver Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Beaver Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Beaver Lake?
- Beaver Lake has a maximum depth of 70 feet. The lake covers 675.9 acres.
What fish are in Beaver Lake?
- Fish species found in Beaver Lake include Brown bullhead, Lake herring. Beaver Lake is located in Alpena County, Michigan.
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Where this data comes from
60 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2016–2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-26.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS60 samples · 2016–2022
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