Lake Arlington
Cook County, IllinoisView mapDirections
Illinois EPA publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Arlington. Here is what has been measured.
- 34 ft max depth
- Limited data
Lake Arlington in Cook County, Illinois has water-quality measurements published by Illinois EPA, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 4.5 ft visibility.
Lake Arlington is a lake in Cook County, Illinois with an estimated average depth of about 34 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Illinois EPA, last sampled 2022-09-29. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Lake Arlington is safe to swim in today is a call for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Lake Arlington
These are the measurements Illinois EPA publishes for Lake Arlington, 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 4.5 ft. TSI 55.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 4.5ft | 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. | 55 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Lake Arlington
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~34 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Illinois has not published bathymetry for Lake Arlington.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
40 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
669 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 Lake Arlington
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Lake Arlington in Cook County, Illinois — 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.
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Fishing Lake Arlington
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Arlington is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Cornell Avenue Dam (completed 1977), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the MCDONALD CREEK; earth-type dam, 9 ft tall and 100 ft long.
- Normal storage
- 0 ac-ft
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- VILLAGE OF WHEELING
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID IL55079 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.82 km)
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
6 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Lake Arlington under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits, including 1 classified by the EPA as major discharger. 3 facilities have a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Lake County Public Works DepartmentBuffalo Grove · 3.7 mi away · NPDES IL0022055MajorRecent violation
- Vcna Prairie Illinois - Yard 1008 DesplainesDes Plaines · 2.5 mi away · NPDES IL0068063Recent violation
- Combined Sewer OverflowsMount Prospect · 3.8 mi away · NPDES IL0052400Recent violation
- Jiffy Lube International #986Wheeling · 2.8 mi away · NPDES IL0072729
- Fox Point Mobile Home Park StpWheeling · 3.2 mi away · NPDES IL0049930
- Leider GreenhousesBuffalo Grove · 4.3 mi away · NPDES IL0067881
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 Cook County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Arlington
Where is Lake Arlington?
- Lake Arlington is a lake in Cook County, Illinois. Its water-quality measurements are published by Illinois EPA and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Lake Arlington?
- Lake Arlington in Cook County, Illinois has water-quality measurements published by Illinois EPA, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 4.5 ft visibility.
Is Lake Arlington safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Arlington?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Arlington, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 34 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
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Where this data comes from
1 measurement from 1 monitoring station, 2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- USGS Illinois Water Science Center
USGS-IL1 sample · 2022
Analytical methods
- Secchi disk 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
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)