Lake Laura
Shenandoah County, Virginia44 acresView mapDirections
Virginia DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Laura. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- Impaired · Oxygen depletion (low DO)
- 42 ft max depth
- Limited data
Lake Laura in Shenandoah 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): 7.6 µg/L. Surface area: 44 acres.
Lake Laura is a 44-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Shenandoah County, Virginia with an estimated average depth of about 42 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2018-10-16. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
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. Lake Laura is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4C) for oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Lake Laura 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 Laura
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Lake Laura, 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 7.6 µg/L. TSI 44.
| 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) | 7.6µg/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. | 44 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Lake Laura
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~42 ft est.
Surface area
44 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 Laura.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
10 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,348 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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Fishing Lake Laura
Water quality readings over time
3 seasons of samples on record (2012–2018). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening3 years
Phosphorus
Stable+0.24 µg/L/yr3 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+0.46 µg/L/yr3 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Laura is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Stony Creek Dam #9 (completed 1971), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Stony Creek; earth-type dam, 80 ft tall and 960 ft long.
- Surface area
- 44 ac
- Normal storage
- 697.1 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 3,417.5 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 7.34 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VA171001 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Lake Laura is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4C).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit VAV-B49L_STY01A10 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Shenandoah County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Laura
Where is Lake Laura?
- Lake Laura is a lake in Shenandoah 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 Laura?
- Lake Laura in Shenandoah 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): 7.6 µg/L. Surface area: 44 acres.
Is Lake Laura safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Laura is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4C) for oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Laura?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Laura, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 42 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 44 acres.
Explore Lake Laura across LakeQuality
Planning a trip around Shenandoah?
Lake Laura is about 28 miles from Shenandoah National Park. Crowds there swing hard by season, so the month you pick changes both how busy the park is and what lodging costs.
Best time to visit Shenandoah →More lakes in Virginia
Other Lakes in Virginia
Eutrophic Lakes in Virginia
Where this data comes from
81 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2012–2018. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
21VASWCB81 samples · 2012–2018
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
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)