Freeman Lake
Hardin County, Kentucky160 acresView mapDirections
Kentucky DOW publishes the water-quality measurements for Freeman Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 34 ft max depth
- Limited data
Freeman Lake in Hardin County, Kentucky has water-quality measurements published by Kentucky DOW, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Surface area: 160.2 acres.
Freeman Lake is a 160-acre cold, clear oligotrophic lake in Hardin County, Kentucky with an estimated average depth of about 34 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KY DOW, last sampled 2016-10-06. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Freeman Lake covers about 160 acres in Hardin County. For a place on the water, look through cabin and lake-house rentals near Freeman Lake on Vrbo. For a hotel or motel room, Booking.com and Expedia both search around the lake.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
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. Freeman Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Freeman Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Kentucky Division of Water and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Freeman Lake
These are the measurements Kentucky DOW publishes for Freeman Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data. Phosphorus 10 µg/L. TSI 37.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | No reading How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. | |
| Total phosphorus | 10µg/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. | 37 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Freeman Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~34 ft est.
Surface area
160 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Kentucky has not published bathymetry for Freeman Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
728 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.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Freeman Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Freeman Lake in Hardin County, Kentucky — 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.
Top-rated places to stay near Freeman Lake
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Fishing Freeman Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2012–2016). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Phosphorus
Improving-4 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Freeman Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Valley Creek Mps 4 (completed 1966), built primarily for water supply on the Freeman Creek; earth-type dam, 44 ft tall and 1,640 ft long.
- Surface area
- 160.2 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,830 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 5.1 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- CITY OF ELIZABETHTOWN
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID KY00034 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Freeman Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit KY-2056 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Hardin County
Frequently asked questions about Freeman Lake
Where is Freeman Lake?
- Freeman Lake is a lake in Hardin County, Kentucky. Its water-quality measurements are published by Kentucky DOW and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Freeman Lake?
- Freeman Lake in Hardin County, Kentucky has water-quality measurements published by Kentucky DOW, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Surface area: 160.2 acres.
Is Freeman Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Freeman 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 Freeman Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Freeman Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 34 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 160.2 acres.
Explore Freeman Lake across LakeQuality
Planning a trip around Mammoth Cave?
Freeman Lake is about 39 miles from Mammoth Cave National Park. Crowds there swing hard by season, so the month you pick changes both how busy the park is and what lodging costs.
Best time to visit Mammoth Cave →More lakes in Kentucky
Other Lakes in Kentucky
Oligotrophic Lakes in Kentucky
Where this data comes from
7 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2012–2016. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- KY WQX
21KY_WQX7 samples · 2012–2016
Analytical methods
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
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)