Cole Lake
Jefferson County, Missouri42 acresView mapDirections
No nutrient or algae sampling on record from Missouri DNR for this lake.
- 22 ft max depth
- Limited data
Cole Lake in Jefferson County, Missouri has water-quality measurements published by Missouri DNR, shown here as reported. Surface area: 42 acres.
Cole Lake is a 42-acre lake in Jefferson County, Missouri with an estimated average depth of about 22 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Missouri DNR, last sampled 2020-11-07. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Cole Lake covers about 42 acres in Jefferson County. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Cole Lake, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Cole Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Cole Lake
These are the measurements Missouri DNR publishes for Cole Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data.
Ask about Cole Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~22 ft est.
Surface area
42 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Missouri has not published bathymetry for Cole Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
827 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 Cole Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Cole Lake in Jefferson County, Missouri — 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.
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Fishing Cole Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Cole Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Coles Lake Dam (completed 1948), built primarily for recreation on the TR TIFF CREEK; earth-type dam, 37 ft tall and 1,370 ft long.
- Surface area
- 42 ac
- Normal storage
- 445 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 605 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1.21 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- TRUSTEES OF COLE LAKE
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID MO30440 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.11 km)
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
2 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Cole Lake under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits. 2 facilities have a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Sunrise R-9 Elementary School WwtpDe Soto · 2.1 mi away · NPDES MO0092762Recent violation
- Valle Lake Sewer District WwtpDe Soto · 3.8 mi away · NPDES MO0100749Recent 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 Jefferson County
Frequently asked questions about Cole Lake
Where is Cole Lake?
- Cole Lake is a lake in Jefferson County, Missouri. Its water-quality measurements are published by Missouri DNR and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Cole Lake?
- Cole Lake in Jefferson County, Missouri has water-quality measurements published by Missouri DNR, shown here as reported. Surface area: 42 acres.
Is Cole Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Cole Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Cole Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 22 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 42 acres.
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Where this data comes from
3 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Univ. of Missouri, Columbia
UMC3 samples · 2020
Analytical methods
- Depth, Secchi disk in meters
- 4500 P E ~ Phosphorus in Water by Colorimetry- Ascorbic Acid Method
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
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
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)