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LakeQuality

Lake Pleasant

Yavapai County, Arizona9,957 acresView mapDirections

No nutrient or algae sampling on record from ADEQ for this lake.

Area
9,957 acres
Surface area
  • Impaired · Mercury
  • Public access
  • Limited data

Ask about Lake Pleasant

Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.

Lake Pleasant in Yavapai County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 9957 acres.

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Lake Pleasant is a 9,957-acre lake in Yavapai County, Arizona. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 2 public boat landings.

Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ADEQ, last sampled 2025-10-27. Grade methodology: LakeQuality methodology.

What Lake Pleasant is good for

From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.

  • Boat launch2 documented ramps
  • Big water9,957 acres

Swimming conditions

No reading

Limited data

Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Pleasant is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.

Whether Lake Pleasant is safe to swim in today is a call for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.

Get alerts for Lake Pleasant

Water quality measurements for Lake Pleasant

These are the measurements ADEQ publishes for Lake Pleasant, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.

No clarity data.

MetricValueEPA condition class
Water Clarity (Secchi Depth)No recent samples
PhosphorusNo recent samples
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)No recent samples

Lake Details

CharacteristicValue
Surface Area9,957 acres
Public AccessYes

No bathymetric survey has been published for Lake Pleasant, so its depth is not documented here.

Recreation & Access

2
Boat Landings
Yes
Public Access
  • Lake Pleasant Regional Park - Scorpian BayPublic
  • Lake Pleasant Regional Park - 1Public

Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps

Fishing Lake Pleasant

Reservoir Info (USACE NID)

Lake Pleasant is a man-made reservoir impounded by the New Waddell Dam (completed 1992), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Agua Fria; rockfill-type dam, 440 ft tall and 4,700 ft long.

Surface area
9,957 ac
Normal storage
811,784 ac-ft
Max storage
1,063,163 ac-ft
Drainage area
1,437.76 sq mi
Hazard class
High
Owner
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION

All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Recreation;Hydroelectric;Water Supply.

Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID AZ82929 · Operator website

EPA Impairment Status

Lake Pleasant is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).

Causes of impairment

Mercury

Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit AZL15070102-1100_00 · Official waterbody report

Nearby Lakes in Yavapai County

Frequently asked questions about Lake Pleasant

Where is Lake Pleasant?

Lake Pleasant is a lake in Yavapai County, Arizona. Its water-quality measurements are published by ADEQ and shown on this page as reported.

What is the water quality of Lake Pleasant?

Lake Pleasant in Yavapai County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 9957 acres.

Is Lake Pleasant safe to swim in?

Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Pleasant is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.

Are there boat ramps on Lake Pleasant?

Lake Pleasant has 2 documented boat landings in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Lake Pleasant Regional Park - Scorpian Bay, Lake Pleasant Regional Park - 1. Public access is listed as yes.

Where this data comes from

3 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.

Collected and reported by

  • Great Lakes Environmental CenterGLEC3 samples · 2025

Analytical methods

  • 4500 P E ~ Phosphorus in Water by Colorimetry- Ascorbic Acid Method
  • 300.0 ~ EPA; Determination of Inorganic Anions by Ion Chromatography
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

Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory