Hungry Mother Lake Sta
Smyth County, Virginia124 acresView mapDirections
This is the name Virginia DEQ records for this water. It can describe one sampling location rather than the water as a whole.
Virginia DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Hungry Mother Lake Sta. Here is what has been measured.
- Mesotrophic
- Impaired · Mercury
- 15 ft max depth
- Public access
Hungry Mother Lake Sta in Smyth County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 8.7 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.1 µg/L. Surface area: 124 acres.
Hungry Mother Lake Sta is a 124-acre mesotrophic lake in Smyth County, Virginia with an estimated average depth of about 15 feet. Overall water quality is declining 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, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2024-10-23. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Hungry Mother Lake Sta is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch1 documented ramp
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLow algae
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. Hungry Mother Lake Sta is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Hungry Mother Lake Sta is safe to swim in today is a call for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Hungry Mother Lake Sta
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Hungry Mother Lake Sta, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Moderate clarity, visible to about 8.7 ft. Phosphorus 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 3.1 µg/L. TSI 42.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 8.7ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 10µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 3.1µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 42 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Hungry Mother Lake Sta
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~15 ft est.
Surface area
124 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by Virginia DEQ
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Virginia has not published bathymetry for Hungry Mother Lake Sta.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
13 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
3.2 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
2,224 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.
Recreation & Access
- Hungry Mother State ParkPublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
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Stays near Hungry Mother Lake Sta
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Fishing Hungry Mother Lake Sta
Water quality readings over time
3 seasons of samples on record (2017–2024). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Stable3 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+0.82 µg/L/yr3 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+0.09 µg/L/yr3 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Hungry Mother Lake Sta is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Hungry Mother Dam, built primarily for recreation on the Hungry Mother Creek; earth-type dam, 45 ft tall and 600 ft long.
- Surface area
- 124 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,350 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 2,500 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 12.93 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Department of Conservation & Recreation - Division of State Parks
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VA173001 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.12 km)
EPA Impairment Status
Hungry Mother Lake Sta 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: Fish consumption.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit VAS-O04L_HUN01A02 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Smyth County
Frequently asked questions about Hungry Mother Lake Sta
Where is Hungry Mother Lake Sta?
- Hungry Mother Lake Sta is in Smyth County, Virginia. This is the name Virginia DEQ records for this water. It can describe one sampling location rather than the water as a whole. Its water-quality measurements are published by Virginia DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Hungry Mother Lake Sta?
- Hungry Mother Lake Sta in Smyth County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 8.7 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.1 µg/L. Surface area: 124 acres.
Is Hungry Mother Lake Sta safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Hungry Mother Lake Sta is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Hungry Mother Lake Sta?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Hungry Mother Lake Sta, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 15 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 124 acres.
Are there boat ramps on Hungry Mother Lake Sta?
- Hungry Mother Lake Sta has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Hungry Mother State Park. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Hungry Mother Lake Sta?
- Hungry Mother Lake Sta has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Virginia's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Explore Hungry Mother Lake Sta across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
82 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2017–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
21VASWCB82 samples · 2017–2024
Analytical methods
- Tyler, John. 1968. The secchi disk, Limnology and Oceanograpy, 13(1):1-6.
- Total Phosphorus After Block Digestion
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
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)
Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory