Lake Butner
Granville County, North Carolina340 acresView mapDirections
NC DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Butner. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- 46 ft max depth
Lake Butner in Granville County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5.4 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 40 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 11 µg/L. Surface area: 340 acres.
Lake Butner is a 340-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Granville County, North Carolina with an estimated average depth of about 46 feet. Phosphorus level is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Granville County, Lake Butner ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NCDEQ, last sampled 2025-09-10. 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 Lake Butner 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 Lake Butner
These are the measurements NC DEQ publishes for Lake Butner, 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 5.4 ft. Phosphorus 40 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 11 µg/L. TSI 55.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 5.4ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 40µg/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 Lake Butner
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~46 ft est.
Surface area
340 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 Lake Butner.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
29 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
8 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
377 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 Butner
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Lake Butner in Granville 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 Lake Butner are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Lake Butner
Prices for Oct 23–25, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
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Fishing Lake Butner
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2020–2025). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Phosphorus
Worsening+6 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-1.2 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Butner is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Lake Butner Dam, built primarily for recreation on the Knap of Reeds Creek; earth-type dam, 80 ft tall and 550 ft long.
- Surface area
- 340 ac
- Normal storage
- 9,000 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 10,800 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 28.67 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
All listed purposes: Recreation;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NC01008 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Granville County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Butner
Where is Lake Butner?
- Lake Butner is a lake in Granville 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 Lake Butner?
- Lake Butner in Granville County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5.4 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 40 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 11 µg/L. Surface area: 340 acres.
Is Lake Butner safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Butner?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Butner, 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 340 acres.
Explore Lake Butner across LakeQuality
More lakes in North Carolina
Other Lakes in North Carolina
Eutrophic Lakes in North Carolina
Where this data comes from
73 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2020–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North Carolina Dept of Environmental Quality NCDEQ-DWR WQX
21NC03WQ73 samples · 2020–2025
Analytical methods
- WSSSOP
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
Monitoring station identifiers (2)
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)