Great Salt Plains Lake
Alfalfa County, Oklahoma8,690 acresView mapDirections
Oklahoma DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Great Salt Plains Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Pathogens (E. coli, fecal)
- 82 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Ask about Great Salt Plains Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Great Salt Plains Lake in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma has water-quality measurements published by Oklahoma DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 0.7 ft visibility. Surface area: 8690 acres.
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Great Salt Plains Lake is a 8,690-acre lake in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma with an estimated average depth of about 82 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 1 public boat landing.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ODEQ, last sampled 2019-07-15. Grade methodology: LakeQuality methodology.
What Great Salt Plains Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch1 documented ramp
- Big water8,690 acres
Swimming conditions
No readingBacteria advisory
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Great Salt Plains Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pathogens (E. coli, fecal), turbidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Great Salt Plains 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 Great Salt Plains Lake
These are the measurements Oklahoma DEQ publishes for Great Salt Plains 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. TSI 83.
| Metric | Value | EPA condition class |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity (Secchi Depth) | 0.7 ft | Measured, not scored |
| Phosphorus | No recent samples | |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No recent samples | |
| Trophic State Index (TSI) | 83 | Hypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Lake Details
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum Depth | ~82 ft est. |
| Average Depth | ~49 ft est. |
| Surface Area | 8,690 acres |
| Public Access | Yes |
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Oklahoma has not published bathymetry for Great Salt Plains Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
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
- Sandy BeachPublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Fishing Great Salt Plains Lake
Water Quality Trend: ↑ Improving
Based on 2 years of monitoring data (2020-2025).
| Metric | Trend | Change/Year | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | ↑ Improving | +6 m/yr | 2 |
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Great Salt Plains Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Great Salt Plains Dam (completed 1941), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Salt Fork of Arkansas River; earth-type dam, 68 ft tall and 6,010 ft long.
- Surface area
- 8,690 ac
- Normal storage
- 31,420 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 990,200 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 3,200 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- USACE - Tulsa District
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Other.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID OK10319 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Great Salt Plains Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit OK621010010020_00 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Alfalfa County
Frequently asked questions about Great Salt Plains Lake
Where is Great Salt Plains Lake?
- Great Salt Plains Lake is a lake in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma. Its water-quality measurements are published by Oklahoma DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Great Salt Plains Lake?
- Great Salt Plains Lake in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma has water-quality measurements published by Oklahoma DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 0.7 ft visibility. Surface area: 8690 acres.
Is Great Salt Plains Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Great Salt Plains Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pathogens (E. coli, fecal), turbidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Great Salt Plains Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Great Salt Plains Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 82 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 8690 acres.
Are there boat ramps on Great Salt Plains Lake?
- Great Salt Plains Lake has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Sandy Beach. Public access is listed as yes.
Explore Great Salt Plains Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
17 measurements from 3 monitoring stations, 2016–2019. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- OWRB Lakes Monitoring
OKWRB-LAKES_WQX17 samples · 2016–2019
Analytical methods
- OWRB Lakes Field Data Collection
Monitoring station identifiers (3)
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