Lake Keokee
Lee County, Virginia109 acresView mapDirections
Virginia DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Keokee. Here is what has been measured.
- Mesotrophic
- 21 ft max depth
Lake Keokee in Lee County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 9.7 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 2.6 µg/L. Surface area: 108.6 acres.
Lake Keokee is a 109-acre mesotrophic lake in Lee County, Virginia with an estimated average depth of about 21 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2022-10-05. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLow algae
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 Keokee is safe to swim in today is a call for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Lake Keokee
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Lake Keokee, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Moderate clarity, visible to about 9.7 ft. Phosphorus 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 2.6 µg/L. TSI 41.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 9.7ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 10µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 2.6µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 41 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Lake Keokee
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~21 ft est.
Surface area
109 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Virginia has not published bathymetry for Lake Keokee.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
2,257 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 Keokee
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Fishing Lake Keokee
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 4 years of monitoring (2013–2022).
Water clarity
Improving4 years
Phosphorus
Improving-2.42 µg/L/yr4 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-1.75 µg/L/yr4 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Keokee is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Keokee Dam, built primarily for recreation on the North Fork Powell River; earth-type dam, 50 ft tall and 330 ft long.
- Surface area
- 108.6 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,950 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 3,130 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1.3 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VA105002 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.03 km)
Nearby Lakes in Lee County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Keokee
Where is Lake Keokee?
- Lake Keokee is a lake in Lee County, Virginia. Its water-quality measurements are published by Virginia DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Lake Keokee?
- Lake Keokee in Lee County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 9.7 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 2.6 µg/L. Surface area: 108.6 acres.
Is Lake Keokee safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Keokee?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Keokee, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 21 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 108.6 acres.
Explore Lake Keokee across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
112 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2013–2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
21VASWCB112 samples · 2013–2022
Analytical methods
- Tyler, John. 1968. The secchi disk, Limnology and Oceanograpy, 13(1):1-6.
- Total Phosphorus After Block Digestion
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)