Crescent Lake
Apache County, Arizona104 acresView mapDirections
No nutrient or algae sampling on record from ADEQ for this lake.
- Impaired · pH / acidity
- 17 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Crescent Lake in Apache County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 104 acres.
Crescent Lake is a 104-acre lake in Apache County, Arizona with an estimated average depth of about 17 feet. Phosphorus level is declining over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ADEQ, last sampled 2026-03-22. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Crescent Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Crescent Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Crescent Lake
These are the measurements ADEQ publishes for Crescent 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 Crescent Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~17 ft est.
Surface area
104 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by ADEQ
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Arizona has not published bathymetry for Crescent Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
6 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
3.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
9,049 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 Crescent Lake
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Fishing Crescent Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2012–2013). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Phosphorus
Worsening+170 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-117.4 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Crescent Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Crescent Lake (completed 1934), built primarily for recreation on the Black River - Tr; earth-type dam, 22 ft tall and 100 ft long.
- Surface area
- 104 ac
- Normal storage
- 5,800 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1.5 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- ARIZONA GAME & FISH DEPARTMENT
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID AZ00127 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Crescent 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, Recreation, Other.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit AZL15060101-0420_00 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Apache County
Frequently asked questions about Crescent Lake
Where is Crescent Lake?
- Crescent Lake is a lake in Apache County, Arizona. Its water-quality measurements are published by ADEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Crescent Lake?
- Crescent Lake in Apache County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 104 acres.
Is Crescent Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Crescent Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Crescent Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Crescent Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 17 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 104 acres.
Can I fish at Crescent Lake?
- Public access to Crescent Lake is listed as yes on the lake record. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Arizona's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
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Where this data comes from
3 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2026. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Great Lakes Environmental Center
GLEC3 samples · 2026
Analytical methods
- 4500 P E ~ Phosphorus in Water by Colorimetry- Ascorbic Acid Method
- 300.0 ~ EPA; Determination of Inorganic Anions by Ion Chromatography
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)