Lee Creek Lake
Crawford County, Arkansas634 acresView mapDirections
Arkansas DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Lee Creek Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- Impaired · pH / acidity
- 26 ft max depth
Lee Creek Lake in Crawford County, Arkansas has water-quality measurements published by Arkansas DEQ, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 29.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 10 µg/L. Surface area: 634 acres.
Lee Creek Lake is a 634-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Crawford County, Arkansas with an estimated average depth of about 26 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 1 other monitored lakes in Crawford County, Lee Creek Lake ranks #2 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ADEQ, last sampled 2023-02-08. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyElevated nutrients
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. Lee Creek Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Lee Creek Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Lee Creek Lake
These are the measurements Arkansas DEQ publishes for Lee Creek Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data. Phosphorus 29.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 10 µg/L. TSI 53.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | No reading How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. | |
| Total phosphorus | 29.5µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 10µg/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. | 53 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Lee Creek Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
→ Lee Creek Lake water level: the live USGS gauge reading
Lake Details
Max depth
~26 ft est.
Surface area
634 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Arkansas has not published bathymetry for Lee Creek Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
457 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
7.1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
433 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 Lee Creek Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Lee Creek Lake in Crawford County, Arkansas — 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 Lee Creek Lake are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Lee Creek Lake
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Fishing Lee Creek Lake
Water Quality Trend: Worsening
Based on 7 years of monitoring (2012–2022).
Phosphorus
Worsening+0.77 µg/L/yr7 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+2.05 µg/L/yr7 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Lee Creek Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Lee Creek (completed 1992), built primarily for water supply on the Lee Creek, Arkansas River; gravity-type dam, 48 ft tall and 1,372 ft long.
- Surface area
- 634 ac
- Normal storage
- 7,118 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 43,000 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 436 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- City of Fort Smith
All listed purposes: Water Supply;Fish and Wildlife Pond;Recreation;Hydroelectric.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID AR01492 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Lee Creek Lake 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: Other.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit AR_11110104_4020 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Crawford County
Frequently asked questions about Lee Creek Lake
Where is Lee Creek Lake?
- Lee Creek Lake is a lake in Crawford County, Arkansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by Arkansas DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Lee Creek Lake?
- Lee Creek Lake in Crawford County, Arkansas has water-quality measurements published by Arkansas DEQ, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 29.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 10 µg/L. Surface area: 634 acres.
Is Lee Creek Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lee Creek Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lee Creek Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lee Creek Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 26 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 634 acres.
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Where this data comes from
76 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2012–2023. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
ARDEQH2O_WQX76 samples · 2012–2023
Analytical methods
- 4500 P J ~ Persulfate Method for Simultaneous Determination of Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- Turbidity by Nephelometry
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)