Kernersville Lake
Forsyth County, North Carolina40 acresView mapDirections
NC DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Kernersville Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- 33 ft max depth
- Limited data
Kernersville Lake in Forsyth County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.8 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 23 µg/L. Surface area: 40 acres.
Kernersville Lake is a 40-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Forsyth County, North Carolina with an estimated average depth of about 33 feet. Compared to the 1 other monitored lakes in Forsyth County, Kernersville Lake ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NCDEQ, last sampled 2024-10-15. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Kernersville Lake covers about 40 acres in Forsyth County. For a place on the water, look through cabin and lake-house rentals near Kernersville Lake on Vrbo. For a hotel or motel room, Booking.com and Expedia both search around the lake.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
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. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Kernersville Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Kernersville Lake
These are the measurements NC DEQ publishes for Kernersville 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 2.8 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 23 µg/L. TSI 59.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 2.8ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 30µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 23µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 59 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Kernersville Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~33 ft est.
Surface area
40 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. North Carolina has not published bathymetry for Kernersville Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
3 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.6 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
830 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 Kernersville Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Kernersville Lake in Forsyth County, North Carolina — 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. The water-quality readings cover nutrients and algae, not lodging. Cabins and rentals around Kernersville Lake are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Kernersville Lake
Prices for Oct 23–25, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
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Fishing Kernersville Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Kernersville Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Kernersville Water Supply Dam (completed 1952), built primarily for water supply on the Belews Creek; earth-type dam, 20 ft tall and 650 ft long.
- Surface area
- 40 ac
- Normal storage
- 280 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 300 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 3.3 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Town of Kernersville
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NC00315 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.29 km)
Nearby Lakes in Forsyth County
Frequently asked questions about Kernersville Lake
Where is Kernersville Lake?
- Kernersville Lake is a lake in Forsyth County, North Carolina. Its water-quality measurements are published by NC DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Kernersville Lake?
- Kernersville Lake in Forsyth County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.8 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 23 µg/L. Surface area: 40 acres.
Is Kernersville Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Kernersville Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Kernersville Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 33 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 40 acres.
Explore Kernersville Lake across LakeQuality
More lakes in North Carolina
Other Lakes in North Carolina
Eutrophic Lakes in North Carolina
Where this data comes from
20 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North Carolina Dept of Environmental Quality NCDEQ-DWR WQX
21NC03WQ20 samples · 2024
Analytical methods
- WSSSOP
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
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)