Kolding Dam Lake
Grand Forks County, North Dakota10 acresView mapDirections
ND DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Kolding Dam Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- Limited data
Kolding Dam Lake in Grand Forks County, North Dakota has water-quality measurements published by ND DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.7 ft visibility. Surface area: 9.8 acres.
Kolding Dam Lake is a 10-acre lake in Grand Forks County, North Dakota.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NDDEQ, last sampled 2025-10-13. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Kolding Dam Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Kolding Dam Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Kolding Dam Lake
These are the measurements ND DEQ publishes for Kolding Dam 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 1.7 ft of visibility. TSI 70.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.7ft | 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. | 70 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Kolding Dam Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Water Temperature
Kolding Dam Lake typically sits around 53°F at the surface in October. Summer average is about 71°F. Usually warmest in Jul (about 73°F) and coldest in Oct (about 53°F). These are typical values by month — not a live reading.
Column height runs from this lake’s coldest month (53°F) to its warmest (73°F).
Typical surface water temperature by month, from 15 field readings (2015–2025) via the EPA Water Quality Portal. See the full Kolding Dam Lake water temperature breakdown →
Lake Details
Surface area
10 acres
No bathymetric survey has been published for Kolding Dam Lake, so its depth is not documented here.
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Stays near Kolding Dam Lake
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Fishing Kolding Dam Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Kolding Dam Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Kolding Dam (completed 1972), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Whisky Ceek-TR; earth-type dam, 71 ft tall and 3,455 ft long.
- Surface area
- 9.8 ac
- Normal storage
- 73.5 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,983 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 11.2 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Significant
- Owner
- Grand Forks County WRB
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID ND00306 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Kolding Dam 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: Aquatic life, Recreation.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit ND-09020307-004-L_00 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Grand Forks County
Frequently asked questions about Kolding Dam Lake
Where is Kolding Dam Lake?
- Kolding Dam Lake is a lake in Grand Forks County, North Dakota. Its water-quality measurements are published by ND DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Kolding Dam Lake?
- Kolding Dam Lake in Grand Forks County, North Dakota has water-quality measurements published by ND DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.7 ft visibility. Surface area: 9.8 acres.
Is Kolding Dam Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Kolding Dam Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
What is the water temperature of Kolding Dam Lake?
- Kolding Dam Lake typically sits around 53°F at the surface in October, from 15 EPA Water Quality Portal field readings (2015–2025). That is a typical value for the month, not a live reading.
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Where this data comes from
8 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North Dakota Department Of Environmental Quality
21NDHDWQ_WQX8 samples · 2025
Analytical methods
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 447.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll a and b in phytoplankton by HPLC/UV
- 4500 NO3 E ~ Nitrate in Water- Cadmium Reduction
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
Depth, fish, and access data from North Dakota Game & Fish