Burden Lake
Rensselaer County, New York369 acresView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Burden Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Oxygen depletion (low DO)
- 47 ft max depth
- Limited data
Burden Lake in Rensselaer County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 14.8 ft visibility. Surface area: 369 acres.
Burden Lake is a 369-acre lake in Rensselaer County, New York with an estimated average depth of about 47 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2020-09-20. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Burden Lake covers about 370 acres in Rensselaer County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Burden Lake on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
What Burden Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water14.8 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Burden Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Burden Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Burden Lake
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Burden Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Good clarity, visible to about 14.8 ft. TSI 38.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 14.8ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading 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. | 38 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Burden Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~47 ft est.
Surface area
369 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. New York has not published bathymetry for Burden Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
7 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
633 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 Burden Lake
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Fishing Burden Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Burden Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Burden Lake Dam (completed 1916), built primarily for recreation on the TR-WYNANTSKILL; earth-type dam, 24 ft tall and 365 ft long.
- Surface area
- 369 ac
- Normal storage
- 3,598 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 7,600 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 4.37 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Significant
- Owner
- Burden Lake Preservation Corporation;Daniel L. Alger;Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Liane Densmore;RENSSELAER COUNTY
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NY00275 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Burden Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NY1301-0025 · Official waterbody report
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
4 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Burden Lake under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits. 2 facilities have a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Cedar Acres Trailer ParkNassau · 3.6 mi away · NPDES NY0222861Recent violation
- Town Of Schodack Sewer Dist No 5East Schodack · 4.6 mi away · NPDES NY0242012Recent violation
- Crooked Lake House, IncSand Lake · 2.1 mi away · NPDES NY0240648
- East Schodack Fire HeadquartersEast Schodack · 4.2 mi away · NPDES NY0088030
Facilities permitted to discharge under the Clean Water Act within ~5 miles; proximity does not by itself mean a facility affects this lake. Source: EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES), as of 2026-07.
Nearby Lakes in Rensselaer County
Frequently asked questions about Burden Lake
Where is Burden Lake?
- Burden Lake is a lake in Rensselaer County, New York. Its water-quality measurements are published by NY DEC and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Burden Lake?
- Burden Lake in Rensselaer County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 14.8 ft visibility. Surface area: 369 acres.
Is Burden Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Burden Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Burden Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Burden Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 47 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 369 acres.
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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
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS6 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
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)