Hemlock Lake
Livingston County, New York2,054 acresView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Hemlock Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 62 ft max depth
- Limited data
Hemlock Lake in Livingston County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 12.5 ft visibility. Surface area: 2054 acres.
Hemlock Lake is a 2,054-acre lake in Livingston County, New York with an estimated average depth of about 62 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2022-07-26. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Hemlock Lake covers about 2,100 acres in Livingston County. For a place on the water, look through cabin and lake-house rentals near Hemlock Lake on Vrbo. For a hotel or motel room, Booking.com and Expedia both search around the lake.
What Hemlock Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water12.5 ft of visibility
- Big water2,054 acres
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Hemlock Lake 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 Hemlock Lake
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Hemlock Lake, 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 12.5 ft. TSI 41.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 12.5ft | 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. | 41 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Hemlock Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~62 ft est.
Surface area
2,054 acres
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 Hemlock Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
37 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
15.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
896 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 Hemlock Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Hemlock Lake in Livingston County, New York — 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 Hemlock Lake
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Follow Hemlock Lake’s readings
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Fishing Hemlock Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2020–2022). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Hemlock Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Hemlock Lake Dam (completed 1926), built primarily for water supply on the SPRINGWATER CREEK; earth-type dam, 12 ft tall and 3,200 ft long.
- Surface area
- 2,054 ac
- Normal storage
- 22,356 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 41,101 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 43.13 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- CITY OF ROCHESTER
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NY00477 · Operator website
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
2 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Hemlock Lake under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits. 1 facility has a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Hemlock Lake - Shoreline, Outlet, Dam & ComplexHemlock · 3.5 mi away · NPDES NY0228478Recent violation
- Hemlock Operations Center / Maintenance GarageHemlock · 3.7 mi away · NPDES NY0245968
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 Livingston County
Frequently asked questions about Hemlock Lake
Where is Hemlock Lake?
- Hemlock Lake is a lake in Livingston 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 Hemlock Lake?
- Hemlock Lake in Livingston County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 12.5 ft visibility. Surface area: 2054 acres.
Is Hemlock Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Hemlock Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Hemlock Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 62 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 2054 acres.
Explore Hemlock Lake across LakeQuality
Depth, room, public access, and the state wake-sport rules
24.3 mi away · 107 ft
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Where this data comes from
18 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020–2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS18 samples · 2020–2022
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
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)