Brough Reservoir
Uintah County, UtahView mapDirections
Utah DWQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Brough Reservoir. Here is what has been measured.
- Mesotrophic
- Impaired · Mercury
- 16 ft max depth
- Limited data
Brough Reservoir in Uintah County, Utah has water-quality measurements published by Utah DWQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.2 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 15.7 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.4 µg/L.
Brough Reservoir is a mesotrophic lake in Uintah County, Utah with an estimated average depth of about 16 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 13 other monitored lakes in Uintah County, Brough Reservoir ranks #4 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Utah DWQ, last sampled 2023-09-05. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
For a place on the water, look through cabin and lake-house rentals near Brough Reservoir on Vrbo. For a hotel or motel room, Booking.com and Expedia both search around the lake.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
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. Brough Reservoir is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, oxygen depletion (low DO), temperature. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Brough Reservoir is safe to swim in today is a call for the Utah Division of Water Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Brough Reservoir
These are the measurements Utah DWQ publishes for Brough Reservoir, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Murky, only visible to about 6.2 ft. Phosphorus 15.7 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 3.4 µg/L. TSI 46.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 6.2ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 15.7µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 3.4µg/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. | 46 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Brough Reservoir
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~16 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Utah has not published bathymetry for Brough Reservoir.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
143 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.9 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
5,115 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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Fishing Brough Reservoir
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2017–2023). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Brough Reservoir is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Brough (completed 1975), built primarily for irrigation on the Whiterocks River--Offstream; earth-type dam, 75 ft tall and 740 ft long.
- Normal storage
- 4,000 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 4,061 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- OURAY PARK IRRIGATION COMPANY
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID UT00353 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Brough Reservoir 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: Aquatic life.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit UT-L-14060010-002_00 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Uintah County
Frequently asked questions about Brough Reservoir
Where is Brough Reservoir?
- Brough Reservoir is a lake in Uintah County, Utah. Its water-quality measurements are published by Utah DWQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Brough Reservoir?
- Brough Reservoir in Uintah County, Utah has water-quality measurements published by Utah DWQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.2 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 15.7 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.4 µg/L.
Is Brough Reservoir safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Brough Reservoir is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, oxygen depletion (low DO), temperature. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Brough Reservoir?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Brough Reservoir, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 16 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
Explore Brough Reservoir across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
61 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2017–2023. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Utah Department Of Environmental Quality
UTAHDWQ_WQX61 samples · 2017–2023
Analytical methods
- Field Measurements
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
Monitoring station identifiers (2)
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)