Big Creek Lake
Delta County, Texas513 acresView mapDirections
TCEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Big Creek Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 38 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Big Creek Lake in Delta County, Texas has water-quality measurements published by TCEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 111 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 16.3 µg/L. Surface area: 512.8 acres.
Big Creek Lake is a 513-acre lake in Delta County, Texas with an estimated average depth of about 38 feet. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 1 public boat landing.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, TCEQ, last sampled 2020-06-10. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Big Creek Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch1 documented ramp
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Big Creek Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Big Creek Lake
These are the measurements TCEQ publishes for Big 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 1.5 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 111 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 16.3 µg/L. TSI 67.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.5ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 111µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 16.3µg/L | Measured, not scored 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. | 67 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Big Creek Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~38 ft est.
Surface area
513 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by TCEQ
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Texas has not published bathymetry for Big Creek Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
12 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
459 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.
Recreation & Access
- Big Creek LakePublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Big Creek Lake
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Fishing Big Creek Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Big Creek Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Big Creek Dam (completed 1987), built primarily for water supply on the Big Creek; earth-type dam, 38 ft tall and 4,350 ft long.
- Surface area
- 512.8 ac
- Normal storage
- 4,625 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 13,296 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 11.92 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- CITY OF COOPER
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID TX06314 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Delta County
Frequently asked questions about Big Creek Lake
Where is Big Creek Lake?
- Big Creek Lake is a lake in Delta County, Texas. Its water-quality measurements are published by TCEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Big Creek Lake?
- Big Creek Lake in Delta County, Texas has water-quality measurements published by TCEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 111 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 16.3 µg/L. Surface area: 512.8 acres.
Is Big Creek Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Big Creek Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Big Creek Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 38 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 512.8 acres.
Are there boat ramps on Big Creek Lake?
- Big Creek Lake has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Big Creek Lake. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Big Creek Lake?
- Big Creek Lake has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Texas's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
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Where this data comes from
6 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
TCEQMAIN6 samples · 2020
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)
Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory