Brown Co State Fishing Lake
Brown County, KansasView mapDirections
KDHE publishes the water-quality measurements for Brown Co State Fishing Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Noxious aquatic plants
- 37 ft max depth
- Limited data
Brown Co State Fishing Lake in Brown County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 88 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 64.5 µg/L.
Brown Co State Fishing Lake is a lake in Brown County, Kansas with an estimated average depth of about 37 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KDHE, last sampled 2017-08-23. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Brown Co State Fishing Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for noxious aquatic plants, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), oxygen depletion (low DO), pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Brown Co State Fishing Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Brown Co State Fishing Lake
These are the measurements KDHE publishes for Brown Co State Fishing 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 1.3 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 88 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 64.5 µg/L. TSI 71.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 88µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 64.5µg/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. | 71 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Brown Co State Fishing Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~37 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Kansas has not published bathymetry for Brown Co State Fishing Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
67 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.9 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,014 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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Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Brown Co State Fishing Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Brown CO State Fishing Lake (completed 1953), built primarily for fish and wildlife pond on the Wolf River-Tr; earth-type dam, 42 ft tall and 1,210 ft long.
- Normal storage
- 490 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,020 ac-ft
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- KANSAS DEPT OF WILDLIFE PARKS & TOURISM
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID KS00865 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Brown Co State Fishing 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: Drinking water, Aquatic life, Recreation.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit KS-LM010301 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Brown County
Frequently asked questions about Brown Co State Fishing Lake
Where is Brown Co State Fishing Lake?
- Brown Co State Fishing Lake is a lake in Brown County, Kansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by KDHE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Brown Co State Fishing Lake?
- Brown Co State Fishing Lake in Brown County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 88 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 64.5 µg/L.
Is Brown Co State Fishing Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Brown Co State Fishing Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for noxious aquatic plants, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), oxygen depletion (low DO), pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Brown Co State Fishing Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Brown Co State Fishing Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 37 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
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Where this data comes from
5 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2017. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Kansas Department Of Health And Environment
21KAN001_WQX5 samples · 2017
Analytical methods
- Depth, Secchi disk depth
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
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)