Elmer Thomas Lake
Comanche County, Oklahoma342 acresView mapDirections
Oklahoma DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Elmer Thomas Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 46 ft max depth
- Limited data
Elmer Thomas Lake in Comanche County, Oklahoma has water-quality measurements published by Oklahoma DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5.6 ft visibility. Surface area: 342 acres.
Elmer Thomas Lake is a 342-acre lake in Comanche County, Oklahoma with an estimated average depth of about 46 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ODEQ, last sampled 2021-09-28. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Elmer Thomas Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Elmer Thomas Lake
These are the measurements Oklahoma DEQ publishes for Elmer Thomas 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 5.6 ft. TSI 52.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 5.6ft | 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. | 52 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Elmer Thomas Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~46 ft est.
Surface area
342 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Oklahoma has not published bathymetry for Elmer Thomas Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
8 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
5.7 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,398 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 Elmer Thomas Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2016–2021). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Elmer Thomas Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Lake Elmer Thomas Dam (completed 1993), built primarily for fish and wildlife pond on the Little Medicine Creek; gravity-type dam, 113 ft tall and 421 ft long.
- Surface area
- 342 ac
- Normal storage
- 7,845 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 11,800 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 7.1 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
All listed purposes: Fish and Wildlife Pond;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID OK00466 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Comanche County
Frequently asked questions about Elmer Thomas Lake
Where is Elmer Thomas Lake?
- Elmer Thomas Lake is a lake in Comanche County, Oklahoma. Its water-quality measurements are published by Oklahoma DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Elmer Thomas Lake?
- Elmer Thomas Lake in Comanche County, Oklahoma has water-quality measurements published by Oklahoma DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5.6 ft visibility. Surface area: 342 acres.
Is Elmer Thomas Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Elmer Thomas Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Elmer Thomas Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 46 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 342 acres.
Explore Elmer Thomas Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
20 measurements from 5 monitoring stations, 2016–2021. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- OWRB Lakes Monitoring
OKWRB-LAKES_WQX20 samples · 2016–2021
Analytical methods
- OWRB Lakes Field Data Collection
- Determination of Turbidity
Monitoring station identifiers (5)
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)