Burrell Branch Lake
Calvert County, Maryland97 acresView mapDirections
MDE publishes the water-quality measurements for Burrell Branch Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Mercury
- Limited data
Burrell Branch Lake in Calvert County, Maryland has water-quality measurements published by MDE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3 ft visibility. Surface area: 97.3 acres.
Burrell Branch Lake is a 97-acre lake in Calvert County, Maryland. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, your state environmental agency, last sampled 2022-10-20. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Burrell Branch Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Burrell Branch Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Maryland Department of the Environment and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Burrell Branch Lake
These are the measurements MDE publishes for Burrell Branch 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 3 ft of visibility. TSI 62.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 3ft | 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. | 62 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Burrell Branch Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Surface area
97 acres
No bathymetric survey has been published for Burrell Branch Lake, so its depth is not documented here.
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Fishing Burrell Branch Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2021–2022). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Burrell Branch Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Chesapeake Ranch Estates Dam (Chisolm Trail) (completed 1965), built primarily for recreation on the Mill Creek; earth-type dam, 46 ft tall and 640 ft long.
- Surface area
- 97.3 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,534 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 2,614 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 2.9 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Chesapeake Ranch Estates
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID MD00039 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.61 km)
EPA Impairment Status
Burrell Branch 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: Aquatic life, Fish consumption.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit MD-021311010873-Lake_Lariat · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Calvert County
Frequently asked questions about Burrell Branch Lake
Where is Burrell Branch Lake?
- Burrell Branch Lake is a lake in Calvert County, Maryland. Its water-quality measurements are published by MDE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Burrell Branch Lake?
- Burrell Branch Lake in Calvert County, Maryland has water-quality measurements published by MDE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3 ft visibility. Surface area: 97.3 acres.
Is Burrell Branch Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Burrell Branch Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
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Where this data comes from
33 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2021–2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Submitting organization not recorded for these samples33 samples · 2021–2022
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