Crystal Lake
Essex County, Massachusetts170 acresView mapDirections
MassDEP publishes the water-quality measurements for Crystal Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Mesotrophic
- Impaired · Mercury
- 26 ft max depth
- Limited data
Crystal Lake in Essex County, Massachusetts has water-quality measurements published by MassDEP, shown here as reported. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.1 µg/L. Surface area: 170 acres.
Crystal Lake is a 170-acre mesotrophic lake in Essex County, Massachusetts with an estimated average depth of about 26 feet. Compared to the 6 other monitored lakes in Essex County, Crystal Lake ranks #2 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, MassDEP, last sampled 2017-09-21. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
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. Crystal Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Crystal Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Crystal Lake
These are the measurements MassDEP publishes for Crystal 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. Chlorophyll-a 3.1 µg/L. TSI 42.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | No reading How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. | |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 3.1µg/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. | 42 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Crystal Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~26 ft est.
Surface area
170 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Massachusetts has not published bathymetry for Crystal Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
157 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 Crystal Lake
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Fishing Crystal Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Crystal Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Crystal Lake Dam (completed 1930), built primarily for water supply on the Creek Brook; concrete-type dam, 8 ft tall and 285 ft long.
- Surface area
- 170 ac
- Normal storage
- 2,417 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 2,762 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1.74 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Significant
- Owner
- City of Haverhill
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID MA01140 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Crystal 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: Fish consumption.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit MA84010 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Essex County
Frequently asked questions about Crystal Lake
Where is Crystal Lake?
- Crystal Lake is a lake in Essex County, Massachusetts. Its water-quality measurements are published by MassDEP and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Crystal Lake?
- Crystal Lake in Essex County, Massachusetts has water-quality measurements published by MassDEP, shown here as reported. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.1 µg/L. Surface area: 170 acres.
Is Crystal Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Crystal Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Crystal Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Crystal Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 26 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 170 acres.
Explore Crystal Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
3 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2017. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)
MASSDEP3 samples · 2017
Analytical methods
- 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
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)