Lake Whitehurst
Norfolk city County, Virginia480 acresView mapDirections
Virginia DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Lake Whitehurst. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Algal growth
- 37 ft max depth
- Limited data
Lake Whitehurst in Norfolk city County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.3 ft visibility. Surface area: 480 acres.
Lake Whitehurst is a 480-acre lake in Norfolk city County, Virginia with an estimated average depth of about 37 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2015-07-13. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Whitehurst is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for algal growth, mercury, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), oxygen depletion (low DO), pCBs. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Lake Whitehurst 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 Whitehurst
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Lake Whitehurst, 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 1.3 ft of visibility. TSI 73.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading 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. | 73 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Lake Whitehurst
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~37 ft est.
Surface area
480 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 Whitehurst.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
6 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
5.7 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
13 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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Stays near Lake Whitehurst
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Fishing Lake Whitehurst
Water Quality Trend: Stable
Based on 6 years of monitoring (2014–2026).
Water clarity
Stable6 years
Phosphorus
Stable+0.17 µg/L/yr4 years
Chlorophyll-a
Stable-1.18 µg/L/yr4 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lake Whitehurst is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Lake Whitehurst Dam, built primarily for water supply on the Little Creek - VAHU6 CB26 Lower Chesapeake Bay - Little Creek; gravity-type dam, 26 ft tall and 1,000 ft long.
- Surface area
- 480 ac
- Max storage
- 4,200 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 6.08 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- City of Norfolk, Department of Utilities
All listed purposes: Water Supply;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VA710002 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Lake Whitehurst is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life, Fish consumption.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit VAT-C08L_LAW01A08 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Norfolk city County
Frequently asked questions about Lake Whitehurst
Where is Lake Whitehurst?
- Lake Whitehurst is a lake in Norfolk city 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 Whitehurst?
- Lake Whitehurst in Norfolk city County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.3 ft visibility. Surface area: 480 acres.
Is Lake Whitehurst safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lake Whitehurst is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for algal growth, mercury, nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen), oxygen depletion (low DO), pCBs. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lake Whitehurst?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lake Whitehurst, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 37 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 480 acres.
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Where this data comes from
3 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2015. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS3 samples · 2015
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)