Fossil Lake
Russell County, Kansas44 acresView mapDirections
KDHE publishes the water-quality measurements for Fossil Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 17 ft max depth
- Limited data
Fossil Lake in Russell County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 0.7 ft visibility. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 142 µg/L. Surface area: 44.1 acres.
Fossil Lake is a 44-acre lake in Russell County, Kansas with an estimated average depth of about 17 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KDHE, last sampled 2018-07-16. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Fossil Lake covers about 44 acres in Russell County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Fossil Lake on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Fossil 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 Fossil 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 Fossil Lake
These are the measurements KDHE publishes for Fossil 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 0.7 ft of visibility. Chlorophyll-a 142 µg/L. TSI 81.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 0.7ft | 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) | 142µg/L | Measured, not scored 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. | 81 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Fossil Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~17 ft est.
Surface area
44 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Kansas has not published bathymetry for Fossil Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
15 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,811 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 Fossil Lake
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Fishing Fossil Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Fossil Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Fossil Creek Dam/Wr# 36;680 (completed 1998) on the Fossil Creek; earth-type dam, 22 ft tall and 550 ft long.
- Surface area
- 44.1 ac
- Normal storage
- 240 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 640 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 16.2 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- RUSSELL, CITY OF
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID KS02787 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.21 km)
EPA Impairment Status
Fossil 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-LM052601 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Russell County
Frequently asked questions about Fossil Lake
Where is Fossil Lake?
- Fossil Lake is a lake in Russell County, Kansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by KDHE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Fossil Lake?
- Fossil Lake in Russell County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 0.7 ft visibility. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 142 µg/L. Surface area: 44.1 acres.
Is Fossil Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Fossil 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 Fossil Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Fossil Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 17 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 44.1 acres.
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Where this data comes from
3 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2018. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Kansas Department Of Health And Environment
21KAN001_WQX3 samples · 2018
Analytical methods
- Depth, Secchi disk depth
- 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)