Lake Crabtree
Wake County, North Carolina473 acresView mapDirections
NC DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Crabtree. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- 40 ft max depth
Lake Crabtree in Wake County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 85 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 35 µg/L. Surface area: 473 acres.
Lake Crabtree is a 473-acre highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Wake County, North Carolina with an estimated average depth of about 40 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 13 other monitored lakes in Wake County, Lake Crabtree ranks #6 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NCDEQ, last sampled 2025-09-11. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Lake Crabtree covers about 470 acres in Wake County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Lake Crabtree on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyAlgae risk
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 Crabtree 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 Crabtree
These are the measurements NC DEQ publishes for Lake Crabtree, 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 1.1 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 85 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 35 µg/L. TSI 70.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.1ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 85µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 35µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 70 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Lake Crabtree
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
→ Lake Crabtree water level: the live USGS gauge reading
Lake Details
Max depth
~40 ft est.
Surface area
473 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 Crabtree.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
48 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
4.6 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
276 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 Crabtree
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Lake Crabtree in Wake 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 Crabtree are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Lake Crabtree
Prices for Oct 23–25, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
Availability and prices from Stay22 partners (Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia). We may earn a commission from bookings, at no extra cost to you.
Planning a whole trip? See where to stay at North Carolina’s top lakes →
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Fishing Lake Crabtree
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
Improving-5 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Stable-0.1 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Crabtree is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Lake Crabtree Dam (completed 1988), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Crabtree Creek; earth-type dam, 45 ft tall and 1,200 ft long.
- Surface area
- 473 ac
- Normal storage
- 2,040 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 8,950 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 52.07 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Wake County Attorney's Office
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NC04952 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Wake County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Crabtree
Where is Lake Crabtree?
- Lake Crabtree is a lake in Wake 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 Crabtree?
- Lake Crabtree in Wake County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 85 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 35 µg/L. Surface area: 473 acres.
Is Lake Crabtree safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Crabtree?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Crabtree, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 40 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 473 acres.
Explore Lake Crabtree across LakeQuality
More lakes in North Carolina
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Hypereutrophic Lakes in North Carolina
Where this data comes from
105 measurements from 3 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
21NC03WQ105 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 (3)
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)