Little Dell Reservoir
Salt Lake County, UtahView mapDirections
Utah DWQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Little Dell Reservoir. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- 69 ft max depth
- Limited data
Little Dell Reservoir in Salt Lake County, Utah has water-quality measurements published by Utah DWQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 14.8 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 12.6 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 0.9 µg/L.
Little Dell Reservoir is a cold, clear oligotrophic lake in Salt Lake County, Utah with an estimated average depth of about 69 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Salt Lake County, Little Dell Reservoir ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Utah DWQ, last sampled 2024-09-16. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
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What Little Dell Reservoir is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water14.8 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
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 Little Dell Reservoir is safe to swim in today is a call for the Utah Division of Water Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Little Dell Reservoir
These are the measurements Utah DWQ publishes for Little Dell Reservoir, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Good clarity, visible to about 14.8 ft. Phosphorus 12.6 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 0.9 µg/L. TSI 36.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 14.8ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 12.6µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 0.9µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 36 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Little Dell Reservoir
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~69 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Utah has not published bathymetry for Little Dell Reservoir.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
17 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
168 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
5,771 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 Little Dell Reservoir
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Fishing Little Dell Reservoir
Water quality readings over time
3 seasons of samples on record (2012–2024). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening3 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+0.08 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Little Dell Reservoir is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Little Dell (completed 1993), built primarily for water supply on the Mountain Dell; earth-type dam, 224 ft tall and 1,700 ft long.
- Normal storage
- 20,500 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 25,000 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 16 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- SALT LAKE CITY CORPORATION
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID UT00755 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Salt Lake County
Frequently asked questions about Little Dell Reservoir
Where is Little Dell Reservoir?
- Little Dell Reservoir is a lake in Salt Lake County, Utah. Its water-quality measurements are published by Utah DWQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Little Dell Reservoir?
- Little Dell Reservoir in Salt Lake County, Utah has water-quality measurements published by Utah DWQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 14.8 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 12.6 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 0.9 µg/L.
Is Little Dell Reservoir safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Little Dell Reservoir?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Little Dell Reservoir, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 69 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
Explore Little Dell Reservoir across LakeQuality
3 thermal springs within 16.7 mi, nearest Wasatch Hot Springs
Species activity outlook by water temperature and season
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Where this data comes from
20 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2012–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Utah Department Of Environmental Quality
UTAHDWQ_WQX20 samples · 2012–2024
Analytical methods
- Field Measurements
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)