Kings Mountain Reservoir
Cleveland County, North Carolina0 acresView mapDirections
NC DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Kings Mountain Reservoir. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- 46 ft max depth
Kings Mountain Reservoir in Cleveland County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 11 µg/L. Surface area: 0.4 acres.
Kings Mountain Reservoir is a 0-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Cleveland County, North Carolina with an estimated average depth of about 46 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NCDEQ, last sampled 2025-09-30. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyElevated nutrients
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 Kings Mountain Reservoir 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 Kings Mountain Reservoir
These are the measurements NC DEQ publishes for Kings Mountain Reservoir, 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 6.9 ft. Phosphorus 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 11 µg/L. TSI 55.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 6.9ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 50µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 11µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 55 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Kings Mountain Reservoir
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~46 ft est.
Surface area
0 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 Kings Mountain Reservoir.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
70 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
13.1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
745 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 Kings Mountain Reservoir
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Kings Mountain Reservoir in Cleveland 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 Kings Mountain Reservoir are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Kings Mountain Reservoir
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Fishing Kings Mountain Reservoir
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2021–2025). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Phosphorus
Worsening+7.5 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Stable-0.12 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Kings Mountain Reservoir is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Woodbridge Golf Course Dam, built primarily for recreation on the Buffalo Creek; earth-type dam, 15 ft tall and 98 ft long.
- Surface area
- 0.4 ac
- Normal storage
- 2.3 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 2 ac-ft
- Hazard class
- Significant
- Owner
- Bowles Management, Inc.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NC05545 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.91 km)
Nearby Lakes in Cleveland County
Frequently asked questions about Kings Mountain Reservoir
Where is Kings Mountain Reservoir?
- Kings Mountain Reservoir is a lake in Cleveland 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 Kings Mountain Reservoir?
- Kings Mountain Reservoir in Cleveland County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 11 µg/L. Surface area: 0.4 acres.
Is Kings Mountain Reservoir safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Kings Mountain Reservoir?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Kings Mountain Reservoir, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 46 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 0.4 acres.
Explore Kings Mountain Reservoir across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
127 measurements from 4 monitoring stations, 2021–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North Carolina Dept of Environmental Quality NCDEQ-DWR WQX
21NC03WQ127 samples · 2021–2025
Analytical methods
- WSSSOP
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
Monitoring station identifiers (4)
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)