Crescent Lake
Garden County, NebraskaView mapDirections
Nebraska DEE publishes the water-quality measurements for Crescent Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- Impaired · Mercury
- 16 ft max depth
- Public access
Crescent Lake in Garden County, Nebraska has water-quality measurements published by Nebraska DEE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 0.8 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 132.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 109.6 µg/L.
Crescent Lake is a highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Garden County, Nebraska with an estimated average depth of about 16 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 1 public boat landing. Compared to the 1 other monitored lakes in Garden County, Crescent Lake ranks #2 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NDEE, last sampled 2024-08-20. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Crescent Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch1 documented ramp
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyAlgae risk
Based on clarity and algae readings from past sampling — there is no live water temperature and a current cyanobacteria reading for this lake. Check your state or county health department before you swim.
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Crescent Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Crescent 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 Crescent Lake
These are the measurements Nebraska DEE 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.
Very murky, less than 0.8 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 132.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 109.6 µg/L. TSI 77.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 0.8ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 133µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 110µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 77 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Crescent Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~16 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 Crescent Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
986 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
991 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
10.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
3,776 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
- Crescent Lake Wildlife Management AreaPublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Crescent Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Crescent Lake in Garden County, Nebraska — 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 Crescent Lake
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Fishing Crescent Lake
Water Quality Trend: Worsening
Based on 8 years of monitoring (2017–2024).
Water clarity
Worsening8 years
Phosphorus
Improving-24.16 µg/L/yr4 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+12.5 µg/L/yr8 years
EPA Impairment Status
Crescent 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-NP2-L0095 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Garden County
Frequently asked questions about Crescent Lake
Where is Crescent Lake?
- Crescent Lake is a lake in Garden County, Nebraska. Its water-quality measurements are published by Nebraska DEE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Crescent Lake?
- Crescent Lake in Garden County, Nebraska has water-quality measurements published by Nebraska DEE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 0.8 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 132.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 109.6 µg/L.
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 mercury, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), 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 16 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 Crescent Lake?
- Crescent Lake has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Crescent Lake Wildlife Management Area. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Crescent Lake?
- Crescent 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 Crescent Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
99 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2017–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy
21NEB001_WQX99 samples · 2017–2024
Analytical methods
- Total Phosphorus After Block Digestion
- 447.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll a and b in phytoplankton by HPLC/UV
Monitoring station identifiers (2)
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