Lake Carmel
Putnam County, New York240 acresView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Carmel. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 53 ft max depth
- Limited data
Lake Carmel in Putnam County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5.6 ft visibility. Surface area: 240 acres.
Lake Carmel is a 240-acre lake in Putnam County, New York with an estimated average depth of about 53 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2020-09-27. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Lake Carmel covers about 240 acres in Putnam County. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Lake Carmel, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Carmel is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Lake Carmel 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 Lake Carmel
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Lake Carmel, 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 5.6 ft. TSI 52.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 5.6ft | 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. | 52 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Lake Carmel
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~53 ft est.
Surface area
240 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 Lake Carmel.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
12 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
3.8 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
620 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 Lake Carmel
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Lake Carmel in Putnam County, New York — 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 Carmel
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Carmel is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Lake Carmel Dam (completed 1930), built primarily for recreation on the MIDDLE BRANCH CROTON RIVER; earth-type dam, 25 ft tall and 475 ft long.
- Surface area
- 240 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,620 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 2,790 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 13 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- TOWN OF KENT
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NY00100 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Lake Carmel is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NY1302-0006 · Official waterbody report
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
14 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Lake Carmel under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits. 4 facilities have a reported Clean Water Act violation in the past three years.
- Fair Street Dpw FacilityCarmel · 1.6 mi away · NPDES NY0264041Recent violation
- Brewster High SchoolBrewster · 3.4 mi away · NPDES NY0029521Recent violation
- Camp RePatterson · 3.8 mi away · NPDES NY0215112Recent violation
- Patterson Hamlet WwtpPatterson, Town Of · 4.5 mi away · NPDES NY0265080Recent violation
- Texaco Service StationLake Carmel · 0.1 mi away · NPDES NY0219649
- Frangel Realty LlcCarmel · 0.3 mi away · NPDES NY0143863
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 Lake Carmel
Where is Lake Carmel?
- Lake Carmel 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 Lake Carmel?
- Lake Carmel in Putnam County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5.6 ft visibility. Surface area: 240 acres.
Is Lake Carmel safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Carmel is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Carmel?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Carmel, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 53 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 240 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)