Clear Fork Reservoir
Morrow County, Ohio1,024 acresView mapDirections
Ohio EPA publishes the water-quality measurements for Clear Fork Reservoir. Here is what has been measured.
- 77 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Clear Fork Reservoir in Morrow County, Ohio has water-quality measurements published by Ohio EPA, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3.1 ft visibility. Surface area: 1024 acres.
Free interactive depth-contour map of Clear Fork Reservoir, reaching a maximum surveyed depth of 24 ft. Toggle Depth contours to overlay the bathymetric survey lines. Contour data from Ohio DNR.
Clear Fork Reservoir is a 1,024-acre lake in Morrow County, Ohio with an estimated average depth of about 77 feet. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 1 public boat landing.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Ohio EPA, last sampled 2021-10-14. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Clear Fork Reservoir covers about 1,000 acres in Morrow County. It has one public boat landing. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Clear Fork Reservoir on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
What Clear Fork Reservoir is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch1 documented ramp
- Big water1,024 acres
Clear Fork Reservoir Water Quality Summary (2026)
A printable one-page summary for Clear Fork Reservoir: clarity, phosphorus, algae, multi-year trend, depth, and fish — with sources.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Clear Fork Reservoir is safe to swim in today is a call for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Clear Fork Reservoir
These are the measurements Ohio EPA publishes for Clear Fork Reservoir, 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 3.1 ft of visibility. TSI 61.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 3.1ft | 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. | 61 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Clear Fork Reservoir
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Current Conditions
USGS snapshot Oct 1, 2020, 4:45 AM from gauge 03131898 (Clear Fork Reservoir Near Lexington OH). Station page ↗ — a live reading replaces this snapshot when the gauge responds. Missing live data is not an all-clear.
→ Clear Fork Reservoir water level: the live USGS gauge reading
Lake Details
Max depth
~77 ft est.
Surface area
1,024 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by Ohio EPA
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Ohio has not published bathymetry for Clear Fork Reservoir.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
32 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
8.9 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,204 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
- Clear Fork Reservoir - MarinaPublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Clear Fork Reservoir
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Clear Fork Reservoir in Morrow County, Ohio — 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 Clear Fork Reservoir
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Fishing Clear Fork Reservoir
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Clear Fork Reservoir is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Clear Fork Reservoir Dam (completed 1949), built primarily for water supply on the CLEAR FORK MOHICAN RIVER; earth-type dam, 44 ft tall and 3,420 ft long.
- Surface area
- 1,024 ac
- Normal storage
- 10,922 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 26,532 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 34.67 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- City of Mansfield
All listed purposes: Water Supply;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID OH00778 · Operator website
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
10 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Clear Fork Reservoir under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits, including 1 classified by the EPA as major discharger. 6 facilities have a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Village Of Lexington WwtpLexington · 3.5 mi away · NPDES OH0020257MajorRecent violation
- Mid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington · 1.1 mi away · NPDES OH0136565Recent violation
- Mansfield WtpMansfield · 2.4 mi away · NPDES OH0003867Recent violation
- Hamilton Standard Controls United TechnologiesLexington · 2.8 mi away · NPDES OH0095281Recent violation
- Cole Tooling & StampingOntario · 4.3 mi away · NPDES OH0138797Recent violation
- Cedar Creek Mhp LlcLexington · 4.8 mi away · NPDES OH0138509Recent violation
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 Morrow County
Frequently asked questions about Clear Fork Reservoir
Where is Clear Fork Reservoir?
- Clear Fork Reservoir is a lake in Morrow County, Ohio. Its water-quality measurements are published by Ohio EPA and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Clear Fork Reservoir?
- Clear Fork Reservoir in Morrow County, Ohio has water-quality measurements published by Ohio EPA, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3.1 ft visibility. Surface area: 1024 acres.
Is Clear Fork Reservoir safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Clear Fork Reservoir?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Clear Fork Reservoir, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 77 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 1024 acres.
What is the water level at Clear Fork Reservoir?
- The USGS snapshot on this page for Clear Fork Reservoir is 1201.26 ft of water-surface elevation, recorded Oct 1, 2020, 4:45 AM at gauge 03131898. Current Conditions hydrates a live NWIS reading from that same station when the gauge responds. A missed live fetch is not an all-clear.
Are there boat ramps on Clear Fork Reservoir?
- Clear Fork Reservoir has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Clear Fork Reservoir - Marina. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Clear Fork Reservoir?
- Clear Fork Reservoir 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 Ohio's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Explore Clear Fork Reservoir across LakeQuality
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Species activity outlook by water temperature and season
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Where this data comes from
28 measurements from 4 monitoring stations, 2021. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Ohio Lake Management Society (Volunteer)
OLMS28 samples · 2021
Monitoring station identifiers (4)
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
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)
Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory