Little River Reservoir
Durham County, North Carolina550 acresView mapDirections
NC DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Little River Reservoir. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- 46 ft max depth
Little River Reservoir in Durham County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 31 µg/L. Surface area: 550 acres.
Little River Reservoir is a 550-acre highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Durham County, North Carolina with an estimated average depth of about 46 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 1 other monitored lakes in Durham County, Little River Reservoir ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NCDEQ, last sampled 2025-09-25. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Little River Reservoir covers about 550 acres in Durham County. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Little River Reservoir, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyAlgae risk
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 River Reservoir is safe to swim in today is a call for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Little River Reservoir
These are the measurements NC DEQ publishes for Little River Reservoir, 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 3.1 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 31 µg/L. TSI 62.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 3.1ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 50µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 31µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 62 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Little River Reservoir
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~46 ft est.
Surface area
550 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. North Carolina has not published bathymetry for Little River Reservoir.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
91 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
10.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
367 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 Little River Reservoir
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Little River Reservoir in Durham County, North Carolina — 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 Little River Reservoir are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near Little River Reservoir
Prices for Oct 23–25, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
Availability and prices from Stay22 partners (Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia). We may earn a commission from bookings, at no extra cost to you.
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Fishing Little River Reservoir
Water Quality Trend: Worsening
Based on 5 years of monitoring (2020–2025).
Water clarity
Stable5 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+3.84 µg/L/yr5 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+5.92 µg/L/yr5 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Little River Reservoir is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Little River Dam (completed 1984), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Little River; earth-type dam, 95 ft tall and 1,200 ft long.
- Surface area
- 550 ac
- Normal storage
- 8,300 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 18,000 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 97 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- City of Durham Department of Water Management
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Recreation;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NC05143 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Durham County
Frequently asked questions about Little River Reservoir
Where is Little River Reservoir?
- Little River Reservoir is a lake in Durham County, North Carolina. Its water-quality measurements are published by NC DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Little River Reservoir?
- Little River Reservoir in Durham County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 50 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 31 µg/L. Surface area: 550 acres.
Is Little River Reservoir safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Little River Reservoir?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Little River Reservoir, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 46 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 550 acres.
Explore Little River Reservoir across LakeQuality
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Hypereutrophic Lakes in North Carolina
Where this data comes from
229 measurements from 4 monitoring stations, 2020–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- USGS North Carolina Water Science Center
USGS-NC118 samples · 2020–2024 - North Carolina Dept of Environmental Quality NCDEQ-DWR WQX
21NC03WQ111 samples · 2020–2025
Analytical methods
- Secchi disk method
- P, wu, WCA, persulfate CF color
- Pigments, algae, EPA445.0 w/ACTN
- Plant pigments, sonication & 445
- HACH 2100Q, NTRU
- WSSSOP
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
Monitoring station identifiers (4)
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)