Lake Rousseau
Citrus County, Florida4,060 acresView mapDirections
Florida DEP publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Rousseau. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Mercury
- Limited data
Lake Rousseau in Citrus County, Florida has water-quality measurements published by Florida DEP, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 31 µg/L. Surface area: 4060 acres.
Lake Rousseau is a 4,060-acre lake in Citrus County, Florida. Water clarity is declining over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, FDEP, last sampled 2025-06-25. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Lake Rousseau covers about 4,100 acres in Citrus County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Lake Rousseau on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
What Lake Rousseau is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Big water4,060 acres
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Rousseau is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Lake Rousseau is safe to swim in today is a call for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Lake Rousseau
These are the measurements Florida DEP publishes for Lake Rousseau, 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 2.3 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 31 µg/L. TSI 59.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 2.3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 31µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading The green pigment in algae — a direct measure of how much algae is in the water. | |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 59 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Lake Rousseau
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Surface area
4,060 acres
No bathymetric survey has been published for Lake Rousseau, so its depth is not documented here.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Lake Rousseau
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Lake Rousseau in Citrus County, Florida — 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.
Top-rated places to stay near Lake Rousseau
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Fishing Lake Rousseau
Water Quality Trend: Stable
Based on 4 years of monitoring (2022–2025).
Water clarity
Worsening4 years
Phosphorus
Improving-3.15 µg/L/yr4 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Rousseau is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Inglis Main Dam & Spillway (completed 1968), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Withlacoochee River; concrete-type dam, 43 ft tall and 4,400 ft long.
- Surface area
- 4,060 ac
- Normal storage
- 54,000 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 61,400 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 2,020 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- STATE OF FLORIDA
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Navigation;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID FL00142 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Lake Rousseau is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Fish consumption.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit FL1329B · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Citrus County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Rousseau
Where is Lake Rousseau?
- Lake Rousseau is a lake in Citrus County, Florida. Its water-quality measurements are published by Florida DEP and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Lake Rousseau?
- Lake Rousseau in Citrus County, Florida has water-quality measurements published by Florida DEP, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 31 µg/L. Surface area: 4060 acres.
Is Lake Rousseau safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Rousseau is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
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Where this data comes from
2 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Submitting organization not recorded for these samples2 samples · 2025
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