Horseshoe Lake
Apache County, Arizona129 acresView mapDirections
No nutrient or algae sampling on record from ADEQ for this lake.
- 10 ft max depth
- Limited data
Ask about Horseshoe Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Horseshoe Lake in Apache County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 129 acres.
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Horseshoe Lake is a 129-acre lake in Apache County, Arizona with an estimated average depth of about 10 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ADEQ, last sampled 2025-09-22. Grade methodology: LakeQuality methodology.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Horseshoe Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Horseshoe Lake
These are the measurements ADEQ publishes for Horseshoe 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.
| Metric | Value | EPA condition class |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity (Secchi Depth) | No recent samples | |
| Phosphorus | No recent samples | |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No recent samples |
Lake Details
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum Depth | ~10 ft est. |
| Surface Area | 129 acres |
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Arizona has not published bathymetry for Horseshoe 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.
Fishing Horseshoe Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Horseshoe Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Horseshoe Cienega (completed 1964), built primarily for recreation on the Horseshoe Creek; earth-type dam, 41 ft tall and 800 ft long.
- Surface area
- 129 ac
- Normal storage
- 986 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,664 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 3.6 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- BIA
All listed purposes: Recreation;Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID AZ10424 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.08 km)
Nearby Lakes in Apache County
Frequently asked questions about Horseshoe Lake
Where is Horseshoe Lake?
- Horseshoe Lake is a lake in Apache County, Arizona. Its water-quality measurements are published by ADEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Horseshoe Lake?
- Horseshoe Lake in Apache County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 129 acres.
Is Horseshoe Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Horseshoe Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Horseshoe Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 10 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 129 acres.
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Where this data comes from
19 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2024–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona (Tribal)
WHITEMOUNTAIN_WQX19 samples · 2024–2025
Analytical methods
- Turbidity by Nephelometry
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)