Mountain Home Reservoir
Costilla County, Colorado597 acresView mapDirections
Colorado WQCD publishes the water-quality measurements for Mountain Home Reservoir. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Metals (other than mercury)
- 63 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Mountain Home Reservoir in Costilla County, Colorado has water-quality measurements published by Colorado WQCD, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 14.4 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 17 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 6.2 µg/L. Surface area: 597 acres.
Mountain Home Reservoir is a 597-acre lake in Costilla County, Colorado with an estimated average depth of about 63 feet. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 2 public boat landings.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, CDPHE, last sampled 2020-07-27. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Mountain Home Reservoir covers about 600 acres in Costilla County. It has 2 public boat landings, so a lakefront rental is not the only way to get a boat on the water. For a place on the water, look through cabin and lake-house rentals near Mountain Home Reservoir on Vrbo. For a hotel or motel room, Booking.com and Expedia both search around the lake.
What Mountain Home Reservoir is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water14.4 ft of visibility
- Boat launch2 documented ramps
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Mountain Home Reservoir is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for metals (other than mercury), oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Mountain Home Reservoir is safe to swim in today is a call for the Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Mountain Home Reservoir
These are the measurements Colorado WQCD publishes for Mountain Home 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 14.4 ft. Phosphorus 17 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 6.2 µg/L. TSI 44.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 14.4ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 17µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 6.2µg/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. | 44 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Mountain Home Reservoir
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~63 ft est.
Surface area
597 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by Colorado WQCD
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Colorado has not published bathymetry for Mountain Home Reservoir.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
70 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.2 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
8,159 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.
Recreation & Access
- Mountain Home Reservoir State Wildlife AreaPublic
- Mountain Home Reservoir State Wildlife AreaPublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Mountain Home Reservoir
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Top-rated places to stay near Mountain Home Reservoir
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Fishing Mountain Home Reservoir
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Mountain Home Reservoir is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Mountain Home (completed 1908), built primarily for irrigation on the Trinchera Creek; earth-type dam, 153 ft tall and 490 ft long.
- Surface area
- 597 ac
- Normal storage
- 17,964 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 26,230 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 70 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- TRACY KESTER,
All listed purposes: Irrigation;Fish and Wildlife Pond;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID CO00818 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Mountain Home Reservoir 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: Drinking water, Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit CORGRG38_E · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Costilla County
Frequently asked questions about Mountain Home Reservoir
Where is Mountain Home Reservoir?
- Mountain Home Reservoir is a lake in Costilla County, Colorado. Its water-quality measurements are published by Colorado WQCD and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Mountain Home Reservoir?
- Mountain Home Reservoir in Costilla County, Colorado has water-quality measurements published by Colorado WQCD, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 14.4 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 17 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 6.2 µg/L. Surface area: 597 acres.
Is Mountain Home Reservoir safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Mountain Home Reservoir is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for metals (other than mercury), oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Mountain Home Reservoir?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Mountain Home Reservoir, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 63 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 597 acres.
Are there boat ramps on Mountain Home Reservoir?
- Mountain Home Reservoir has 2 documented boat landings in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Mountain Home Reservoir State Wildlife Area, Mountain Home Reservoir State Wildlife Area. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Mountain Home Reservoir?
- Mountain Home Reservoir has 2 documented boat landings in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Colorado's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Explore Mountain Home Reservoir across LakeQuality
17.9 mi away · 30 ft
22.9 mi away · recorded at 68°F
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Planning a trip around Great Sand Dunes?
Mountain Home Reservoir is about 30 miles from Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve. Crowds there swing hard by season, so the month you pick changes both how busy the park is and what lodging costs.
Best time to visit Great Sand Dunes →More lakes in Colorado
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Where this data comes from
4 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Colorado Dept. of Public Health & Environment-WQCD
21COL001_WQX4 samples · 2020
Analytical methods
- Secchi disk depth measurement
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
- Nitrogen in Water by Pyrolysis Detection
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)
Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory