Deer Lake
Broome County, New York32 acresView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Deer Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 26 ft max depth
- Limited data
Deer Lake in Broome County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 4.6 ft visibility. Surface area: 32 acres.
Deer Lake is a 32-acre lake in Broome County, New York with an estimated average depth of about 26 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2020-09-14. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Deer Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Deer Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Deer Lake
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Deer Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Murky, only visible to about 4.6 ft. TSI 55.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 4.6ft | Measured, not scored 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) | 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. | 55 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Deer Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~26 ft est.
Surface area
32 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. New York has not published bathymetry for Deer Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
2 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,522 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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Fishing Deer Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Deer Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Deer Lake Dam, built primarily for recreation on the FLY CREEK; earth-type dam, 10 ft tall and 125 ft long.
- Surface area
- 32 ac
- Normal storage
- 119 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 119 ac-ft
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- DEER LAKE ASSOCIATION
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NY01476 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Deer 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: Recreation.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NY1404-0038 · Official waterbody report
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
1 EPA-permitted facility operate within about 5 miles of Deer Lake under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits. 1 facility has a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Forest Lake CampgroundWindsor · 3.4 mi away · NPDES NY0230936Recent 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 Broome County
Frequently asked questions about Deer Lake
Where is Deer Lake?
- Deer Lake is a lake in Broome County, New York. Its water-quality measurements are published by NY DEC and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Deer Lake?
- Deer Lake in Broome County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 4.6 ft visibility. Surface area: 32 acres.
Is Deer Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Deer Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Deer Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Deer 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 32 acres.
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Where this data comes from
8 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS8 samples · 2020
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
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)