Old Town Reservoir
Moore County, North Carolina61 acresView mapDirections
NC DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Old Town Reservoir. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- 49 ft max depth
- Limited data
Old Town Reservoir in Moore County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 12 µg/L. Surface area: 61 acres.
Old Town Reservoir is a 61-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Moore County, North Carolina with an estimated average depth of about 49 feet. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Moore County, Old Town Reservoir ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NCDEQ, last sampled 2023-09-14. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
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 Old Town 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 Old Town Reservoir
These are the measurements NC DEQ publishes for Old Town Reservoir, 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. Phosphorus 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 12 µg/L. TSI 52.
| 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 | 30µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 12µg/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. | 52 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Old Town Reservoir
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~49 ft est.
Surface area
61 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 Old Town Reservoir.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
2 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
390 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 Old Town Reservoir
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Old Town Reservoir is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Southern Pines Waterworks Dam (completed 1924), built primarily for recreation on the Mill Creek; earth-type dam, 23 ft tall and 640 ft long.
- Surface area
- 61 ac
- Normal storage
- 700 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,072 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1.78 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Town of Southern Pines
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NC00072 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.42 km)
Nearby Lakes in Moore County
Frequently asked questions about Old Town Reservoir
Where is Old Town Reservoir?
- Old Town Reservoir is a lake in Moore 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 Old Town Reservoir?
- Old Town Reservoir in Moore County, North Carolina has water-quality measurements published by NC DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 12 µg/L. Surface area: 61 acres.
Is Old Town Reservoir safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Old Town Reservoir?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Old Town Reservoir, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 49 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 61 acres.
Explore Old Town Reservoir across LakeQuality
More lakes in North Carolina
Other Lakes in North Carolina
Eutrophic Lakes in North Carolina
Where this data comes from
40 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2023. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North Carolina Dept of Environmental Quality NCDEQ-DWR WQX
21NC03WQ40 samples · 2023
Analytical methods
- WSSSOP
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
Monitoring station identifiers (2)
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)