Cottonwood Lake
Cherry County, NebraskaView mapDirections
Nebraska DEE publishes the water-quality measurements for Cottonwood Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Mercury
- 10 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Cottonwood Lake in Cherry County, Nebraska has water-quality measurements published by Nebraska DEE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.7 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 53.4 µg/L.
Cottonwood Lake is a lake in Cherry County, Nebraska with an estimated average depth of about 10 feet. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 1 public boat landing.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NDEE, last sampled 2014-09-24. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Cottonwood Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch1 documented ramp
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Cottonwood Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Cottonwood Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Cottonwood Lake
These are the measurements Nebraska DEE publishes for Cottonwood Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Moderate clarity, visible to about 6.7 ft. Phosphorus 53.4 µg/L. TSI 56.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 6.7ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 53.4µg/L | Measured, not scored 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. | 56 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Cottonwood Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~10 ft est.
Public access
Yes
Listed by Nebraska DEE
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Nebraska has not published bathymetry for Cottonwood Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
35 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
3,238 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
- Cottonwood Lake State Recreation AreaPublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
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Stays near Cottonwood Lake
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Fishing Cottonwood Lake
EPA Impairment Status
Cottonwood 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 NE-NI4-L0010 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Cherry County
Frequently asked questions about Cottonwood Lake
Where is Cottonwood Lake?
- Cottonwood Lake is a lake in Cherry County, Nebraska. Its water-quality measurements are published by Nebraska DEE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Cottonwood Lake?
- Cottonwood Lake in Cherry County, Nebraska has water-quality measurements published by Nebraska DEE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.7 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 53.4 µg/L.
Is Cottonwood Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Cottonwood Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Cottonwood Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Cottonwood Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 10 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
Are there boat ramps on Cottonwood Lake?
- Cottonwood Lake has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Cottonwood Lake State Recreation Area. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Cottonwood Lake?
- Cottonwood Lake 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 Nebraska's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Explore Cottonwood Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
7 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2014. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy
21NEB001_WQX7 samples · 2014
Analytical methods
- Total Phosphorus After Block Digestion
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)
Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory