Lake Michie
Durham County, North Carolina460 acresView mapDirections
NC DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Michie. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- 31 ft max depth
Lake Michie in Durham County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.6 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 36 µg/L. Surface area: 460 acres.
Lake Michie is a 460-acre highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Durham County, North Carolina with an estimated average depth of about 31 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 1 other monitored lakes in Durham County, Lake Michie ranks #2 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 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 Michie 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 Michie
These are the measurements NC DEQ publishes for Lake Michie, 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 2.6 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 36 µg/L. TSI 63.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 2.6ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 50µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 36µg/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. | 63 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Lake Michie
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~31 ft est.
Surface area
460 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 Michie.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
169 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
9.8 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
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.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Lake Michie
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Lake Michie in Durham 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 Michie are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Lake Michie
Prices for Oct 23–25, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
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Planning a whole trip? See where to stay at North Carolina’s top lakes →
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Fishing Lake Michie
Water Quality Trend: Worsening
Based on 5 years of monitoring (2020–2025).
Water clarity
Improving5 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+1.29 µg/L/yr5 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+5.59 µg/L/yr5 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Michie is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Lake Michie Dam (completed 1926), built primarily for other on the Flat River; earth-type dam, 92 ft tall and 920 ft long.
- Surface area
- 460 ac
- Normal storage
- 12,400 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 18,660 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 167 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- City of Durham Department of Water Management
All listed purposes: Other;Recreation;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NC01027 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Durham County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Michie
Where is Lake Michie?
- Lake Michie is a lake in Durham 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 Michie?
- Lake Michie in Durham County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.6 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 36 µg/L. Surface area: 460 acres.
Is Lake Michie safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Michie?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Michie, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 31 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 460 acres.
Explore Lake Michie across LakeQuality
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Hypereutrophic Lakes in North Carolina
Where this data comes from
223 measurements from 4 monitoring stations, 2020–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- USGS North Carolina Water Science Center
USGS-NC118 samples · 2020–2024 - North Carolina Dept of Environmental Quality NCDEQ-DWR WQX
21NC03WQ105 samples · 2020–2025
Analytical methods
- Secchi disk method
- P, wu, WCA, persulfate CF color
- Pigments, algae, EPA445.0 w/ACTN
- Plant pigments, sonication & 445
- HACH 2100Q, NTRU
- WSSSOP
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
Monitoring station identifiers (4)
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)