Kirk Lake
Putnam County, New York124 acresView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Kirk Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 47 ft max depth
- Limited data
Kirk Lake in Putnam County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5 ft visibility. Surface area: 124 acres.
Kirk Lake is a 124-acre lake in Putnam County, New York with an estimated average depth of about 47 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2020-09-20. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Kirk Lake covers about 120 acres in Putnam County. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Kirk Lake, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Kirk Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Kirk 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 Kirk Lake
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Kirk Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Murky, only visible to about 5 ft. TSI 54.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 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. | 54 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Kirk Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~47 ft est.
Surface area
124 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 Kirk Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
7 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.2 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
600 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.
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Stays near Kirk Lake
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Fishing Kirk Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Kirk Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Kirk Lake Dam (completed 1871), built primarily for recreation on the TR-MUSCOOT RIVER; earth-type dam, 28 ft tall and 225 ft long.
- Surface area
- 124 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,705 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,822 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 3.1 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Significant
- Owner
- NYCDEP DAMS EAST OF THE HUDSON RIVER
All listed purposes: Recreation;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NY00682 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Kirk Lake 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: Recreation.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NY1302-0080 · Official waterbody report
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
12 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Kirk Lake under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits. 4 facilities have a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Putnam National Golf Club WwtpMahopac · 0.8 mi away · NPDES NY0260371Recent violation
- Sclafani Petroleum IncMahopac · 1.5 mi away · NPDES NY0251453Recent violation
- Mahopac (V) StpCarmel · 1.5 mi away · NPDES NY0026590Recent violation
- Enviro Waste Oil Recovery TerminalMahopac · 1.5 mi away · NPDES NY0101753Recent violation
- Carnel Mac Gregor Sewer WorksScarsdale · 0.6 mi away · NPDES NY0219380
- Mahopac School Bus GarageMahopac · 0.9 mi away · NPDES NY0263991
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 Putnam County
Frequently asked questions about Kirk Lake
Where is Kirk Lake?
- Kirk Lake is a lake in Putnam 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 Kirk Lake?
- Kirk Lake in Putnam County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5 ft visibility. Surface area: 124 acres.
Is Kirk Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Kirk Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Kirk Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Kirk Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 47 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.
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Where this data comes from
8 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS8 samples · 2020
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
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)