Berlin Pond
Washington County, Vermont256 acresView mapDirections
Vermont DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Berlin Pond. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- 60 ft max depth
Berlin Pond in Washington County, Vermont has water-quality measurements published by Vermont DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 21.7 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 7.1 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 1.1 µg/L. Surface area: 256 acres.
Berlin Pond is a 256-acre cold, clear oligotrophic lake in Washington County, Vermont with an estimated average depth of about 60 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 8 other monitored lakes in Washington County, Berlin Pond ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, VT DEC, last sampled 2025-08-23. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Berlin Pond is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water21.7 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLow algae
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. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Berlin Pond is safe to swim in today is a call for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Berlin Pond
These are the measurements Vermont DEC publishes for Berlin Pond, 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 21.7 ft down. Phosphorus 7.1 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 1.1 µg/L. TSI 32.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 21.7ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 7.1µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 1.1µg/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. | 32 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Berlin Pond
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~60 ft est.
Surface area
256 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Vermont has not published bathymetry for Berlin Pond.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
11 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
4.9 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
981 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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Stays near Berlin Pond
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Fishing Berlin Pond
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 5 years of monitoring (2020–2025).
Water clarity
Stable5 years
Phosphorus
Improving-0.48 µg/L/yr4 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-0.15 µg/L/yr3 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Berlin Pond is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Berlin Pond (completed 1920), built primarily for water supply on the Stevens Branch-Tr; concrete-type dam, 14 ft tall and 70 ft long.
- Surface area
- 256 ac
- Normal storage
- 0 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 2,530 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 9.97 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- CITY OF MONTPELIER
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VT00084 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Washington County
Frequently asked questions about Berlin Pond
Where is Berlin Pond?
- Berlin Pond is a lake in Washington County, Vermont. Its water-quality measurements are published by Vermont DEC and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Berlin Pond?
- Berlin Pond in Washington County, Vermont has water-quality measurements published by Vermont DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 21.7 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 7.1 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 1.1 µg/L. Surface area: 256 acres.
Is Berlin Pond safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Berlin Pond?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Berlin Pond, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 60 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 256 acres.
Explore Berlin Pond across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
95 measurements from 3 monitoring stations, 2020–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Vermont Dept of Environmental Conservation
1VTDECWQ95 samples · 2020–2025
Analytical methods
- EPA approved Alternate Test Procedure for 4500 P H. Has a 28 day hold without acid preservation.
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
Monitoring station identifiers (3)
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)