Fulton Chain Lakes
Herkimer County, New YorkView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Fulton Chain Lakes. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Pesticides
- 84 ft max depth
- Limited data
Fulton Chain Lakes in Herkimer County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 10.3 ft visibility.
Fulton Chain Lakes is a lake in Herkimer County, New York with an estimated average depth of about 84 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2020-09-22. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Fulton Chain Lakes is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water10.3 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Fulton Chain Lakes is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pesticides. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Fulton Chain Lakes is safe to swim in today is a call for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Fulton Chain Lakes
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Fulton Chain Lakes, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Good clarity, visible to about 10.3 ft. TSI 44.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 10.3ft | 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. | 44 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Fulton Chain Lakes
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~84 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. New York has not published bathymetry for Fulton Chain Lakes.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
40 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
2,086 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
14.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,699 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 Fulton Chain Lakes
EPA Impairment Status
Fulton Chain Lakes is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NY0801-0373 · Official waterbody report
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
3 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Fulton Chain Lakes under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits. 1 facility has a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Inlet (T)/Hamlet Of Inlet WwtfInlet · 3.6 mi away · NPDES NY0265853Recent violation
- Hollywood Hills CondominiumOld Forge · 3.2 mi away · NPDES NY0079901
- Limekiln Lake CampgroundInlet · 3.7 mi away · NPDES NY0034363
Facilities permitted to discharge under the Clean Water Act within ~5 miles; proximity does not by itself mean a facility affects this lake. Source: EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES), as of 2026-07.
Nearby Lakes in Herkimer County
Frequently asked questions about Fulton Chain Lakes
Where is Fulton Chain Lakes?
- Fulton Chain Lakes is a lake in Herkimer County, New York. Its water-quality measurements are published by NY DEC and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Fulton Chain Lakes?
- Fulton Chain Lakes in Herkimer County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 10.3 ft visibility.
Is Fulton Chain Lakes safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Fulton Chain Lakes is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pesticides. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Fulton Chain Lakes?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Fulton Chain Lakes, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 84 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
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Where this data comes from
8 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS8 samples · 2020
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
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)