Elk City Lake
Montgomery County, Kansas4,440 acresView mapDirections
KDHE publishes the water-quality measurements for Elk City Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 55 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Elk City Lake in Montgomery County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 90 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 24 µg/L. Surface area: 4440 acres.
Elk City Lake is a 4,440-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Montgomery County, Kansas with an estimated average depth of about 55 feet. Water clarity is declining over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 2 public boat landings.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KDHE, last sampled 2016-09-06. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Elk City Lake covers about 4,400 acres in Montgomery County. It has 2 public boat landings, so a lakefront rental is not the only way to get a boat on the water. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Elk City Lake, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
What Elk City Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch2 documented ramps
- Big water4,440 acres
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyRecreation use not supported
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. Elk City Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), sediment / turbidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Elk City Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Elk City Lake
These are the measurements KDHE publishes for Elk City 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 1.5 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 90 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 24 µg/L. TSI 67.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.5ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 90µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 24µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 67 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Elk City Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~55 ft est.
Surface area
4,440 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by KDHE
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Kansas has not published bathymetry for Elk City Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
651 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
17.6 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
791 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
- Elk City-South SquawPublic
- Elk City-CourtesyPublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Elk City Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Elk City Lake in Montgomery County, Kansas — 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. The water-quality readings cover nutrients and algae, not lodging. Cabins and rentals around Elk City Lake are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Elk City Lake
Prices for Oct 30–Nov 1, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
Availability and prices from Stay22 partners (Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia). We may earn a commission from bookings, at no extra cost to you.
Planning a trip? Cabins and lodging at Elk City Lake → · more Kansas lake trips
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Fishing Elk City Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2014–2016). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening2 years
Phosphorus
Stable+0.25 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-3.5 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Elk City Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Elk City Dam (completed 1966), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Elk River; earth-type dam, 107 ft tall and 4,840 ft long.
- Surface area
- 4,440 ac
- Normal storage
- 46,122 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 850,405 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 634 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- USACE - Tulsa District
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Other;Recreation;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID KS00002 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Elk City Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Drinking water, Aquatic life, Recreation.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit KS-LM025001 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Montgomery County
Frequently asked questions about Elk City Lake
Where is Elk City Lake?
- Elk City Lake is a lake in Montgomery County, Kansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by KDHE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Elk City Lake?
- Elk City Lake in Montgomery County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 90 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 24 µg/L. Surface area: 4440 acres.
Is Elk City Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Elk City Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), sediment / turbidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Elk City Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Elk City Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 55 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 4440 acres.
Are there boat ramps on Elk City Lake?
- Elk City Lake has 2 documented boat landings in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Elk City-South Squaw, Elk City-Courtesy. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Elk City Lake?
- Elk City Lake has 2 documented boat landings in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Kansas's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Explore Elk City Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
11 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2014–2016. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Kansas Department Of Health And Environment
21KAN001_WQX11 samples · 2014–2016
Analytical methods
- Depth, Secchi disk depth
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
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)
Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory