Black Canyon Lake
Navajo County, Arizona78 acresView mapDirections
No nutrient or algae sampling on record from ADEQ for this lake.
- Impaired · Mercury
- 12 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Black Canyon Lake in Navajo County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 78 acres.
Black Canyon Lake is a 78-acre lake in Navajo County, Arizona with an estimated average depth of about 12 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 1 public boat landing.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ADEQ, last sampled 2025-11-06. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Black Canyon Lake covers about 78 acres in Navajo County. It has one public boat landing. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Black Canyon Lake, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
What Black Canyon Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch1 documented ramp
- Camping2 public campgrounds nearby
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Black Canyon Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Black Canyon Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Black Canyon Lake
These are the measurements ADEQ publishes for Black Canyon 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.
Ask about Black Canyon Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~12 ft est.
Surface area
78 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by ADEQ
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Arizona has not published bathymetry for Black Canyon Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
7 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
7,077 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
- Black Canyon LakePublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Public campgrounds near Black Canyon Lake
- Gentry Cg3.3 km
- Black Canyon Rim Cg4.8 km
Nearest public campgrounds in the USGS National Map inventory, within about 3 miles. An empty list means USGS records no campground that close, which is not the same as camping being unavailable. Where the source gives an official reservation link, it is used; the cabin and hotel search does not cover campsites. More camping lakes
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Black Canyon Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Black Canyon Lake in Navajo County, Arizona — 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.
Top-rated places to stay near Black Canyon Lake
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Fishing Black Canyon Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2018–2019). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Phosphorus
Improving-30 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Black Canyon Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Black Canyon (completed 1964), built primarily for recreation on the West Fork, Black Canyon Creek; earth-type dam, 72 ft tall and 420 ft long.
- Surface area
- 78 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,581 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,900 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 5.85 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- ARIZONA GAME & FISH DEPARTMENT
All listed purposes: Recreation;Fish and Wildlife Pond.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID AZ00042 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Black Canyon 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: Fish consumption.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit AZL15020010-0180_00 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Navajo County
Frequently asked questions about Black Canyon Lake
Where is Black Canyon Lake?
- Black Canyon Lake is a lake in Navajo County, Arizona. Its water-quality measurements are published by ADEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Black Canyon Lake?
- Black Canyon Lake in Navajo County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 78 acres.
Is Black Canyon Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Black Canyon Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Black Canyon Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Black Canyon Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 12 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 78 acres.
Are there boat ramps on Black Canyon Lake?
- Black Canyon Lake has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Black Canyon Lake. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Black Canyon Lake?
- Black Canyon 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 Arizona's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Are there campgrounds on Black Canyon Lake?
- Black Canyon Lake has 2 public campgrounds from USGS The National Map within 5 km, including Gentry Cg, Black Canyon Rim Cg. This is a location join, not a booking. Cabins and hotels are listed separately; campsite reservations use the official link when the source provides one.
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Where this data comes from
3 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Great Lakes Environmental Center
GLEC3 samples · 2025
Analytical methods
- 4500 P E ~ Phosphorus in Water by Colorimetry- Ascorbic Acid Method
- 300.0 ~ EPA; Determination of Inorganic Anions by Ion Chromatography
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)
Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory
Public campgrounds from USGS The National Map Structures, within about 3 miles