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LakeQuality

Cleve Branch Lake

Calvert County, MarylandView mapDirections

MDE publishes the water-quality measurements for Cleve Branch Lake. Here is what has been measured.

Clarity
3 ft
Typical for Maryland
Secchi · sampled 2022
  • Impaired · Mercury
  • Limited data

Cleve Branch Lake in Calvert County, Maryland has water-quality measurements published by MDE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3 ft visibility.

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Cleve Branch Lake is a 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 reading

Limited data

Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Cleve 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 Cleve 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.

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Water quality measurements for Cleve Branch Lake

These are the measurements MDE publishes for Cleve 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.

Water quality readings
MeasureReadingWhere it sits
Water clarity (Secchi depth)3ftMeasured, not scored

How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer.

Total phosphorusNo 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.62Eutrophic
OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic

High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity

Ask about Cleve Branch Lake

Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.

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Stays near Cleve Branch Lake

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Fishing Cleve Branch Lake

2 seasons of samples on record (2021–2022). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.

  • Water clarity

    Worsening

    2 years

EPA Impairment Status

Cleve 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

MercuryNutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)

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 Cleve Branch Lake

Where is Cleve Branch Lake?

Cleve 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 Cleve Branch Lake?

Cleve Branch Lake in Calvert County, Maryland has water-quality measurements published by MDE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3 ft visibility.

Measurements on this page ↑

Is Cleve Branch Lake safe to swim in?

Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Cleve Branch Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.

Swimming on this page ↑

Where this data comes from

31 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 samples31 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