Down Lake
Orange County, FloridaView mapDirections
Florida DEP publishes the water-quality measurements for Down Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- Impaired · Mercury
Down Lake in Orange County, Florida has water-quality measurements published by Florida DEP, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 16.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 6 µg/L.
Down Lake is a cold, clear oligotrophic lake in Orange County, Florida. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 319 other monitored lakes in Orange County, Down Lake ranks #34 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, FDEP, last sampled 2025-07-23. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Down Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water16.1 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLow algae
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. Down Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Down Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Down Lake
These are the measurements Florida DEP publishes for Down Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Crystal clear, you can see 16.1 ft down. Phosphorus 6 µg/L. TSI 34.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 16.1ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 6µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| 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. | 34 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Down Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
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Stays near Down Lake
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Fishing Down Lake
Water Quality Trend: Worsening
Based on 6 years of monitoring (2020–2025).
Water clarity
Worsening6 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+0.7 µg/L/yr6 years
EPA Impairment Status
Down Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Fish consumption.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit FL3170S · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Orange County
Frequently asked questions about Down Lake
Where is Down Lake?
- Down Lake is a lake in Orange County, Florida. Its water-quality measurements are published by Florida DEP and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Down Lake?
- Down Lake in Orange County, Florida has water-quality measurements published by Florida DEP, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 16.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 6 µg/L.
Is Down Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Down Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Explore Down Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
70 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2020–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Submitting organization not recorded for these samples64 samples · 2020–2025
- Submitting organization not recorded for these samples6 samples · 2023–2025
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