Lower Charette Lake
Mora County, New MexicoView mapDirections
NMED publishes the water-quality measurements for Lower Charette Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Mercury
- 20 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Lower Charette Lake in Mora County, New Mexico has water-quality measurements published by NMED, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.9 ft visibility. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.7 µg/L.
Lower Charette Lake is a lake in Mora County, New Mexico with an estimated average depth of about 20 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NMED, last sampled 2016-10-18. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lower Charette Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, temperature. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Lower Charette Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the New Mexico Environment Department and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Lower Charette Lake
These are the measurements NMED publishes for Lower Charette Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Moderate clarity, visible to about 6.9 ft. Chlorophyll-a 3.7 µg/L. TSI 46.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 6.9ft | 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) | 3.7µg/L | Measured, not scored 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. | 46 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Lower Charette Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~20 ft est.
Public access
Yes
Listed by NMED
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. New Mexico has not published bathymetry for Lower Charette Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
225 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
247 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.9 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
6,654 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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Fishing Lower Charette Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2016–2017). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+4.4 µg/L/yr2 years
EPA Impairment Status
Lower Charette Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NM-2305.5_10 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Mora County
Frequently asked questions about Lower Charette Lake
Where is Lower Charette Lake?
- Lower Charette Lake is a lake in Mora County, New Mexico. Its water-quality measurements are published by NMED and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Lower Charette Lake?
- Lower Charette Lake in Mora County, New Mexico has water-quality measurements published by NMED, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.9 ft visibility. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 3.7 µg/L.
Is Lower Charette Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Lower Charette Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury, temperature. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Lower Charette Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Lower Charette Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 20 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
Can I fish at Lower Charette Lake?
- Public access to Lower Charette Lake is listed as yes on the lake record. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by New Mexico's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
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Where this data comes from
7 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2015–2016. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- NM Environmental Dept./SWQB
21NMEX_WQX7 samples · 2015–2016
Analytical methods
- 10200 H 2 ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination by spectrophotometer
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)