Otter Lake
Oneida County, New York135 acresView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Otter Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 36 ft max depth
- Limited data
Otter Lake in Oneida County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.6 ft visibility. Surface area: 135 acres.
Otter Lake is a 135-acre lake in Oneida County, New York with an estimated average depth of about 36 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2020-09-27. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Otter Lake covers about 140 acres in Oneida County. For a place on the water, look through cabin and lake-house rentals near Otter Lake on Vrbo. For a hotel or motel room, Booking.com and Expedia both search around the lake.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Otter Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Otter Lake
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Otter Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Murky, only visible to about 6.6 ft. TSI 50.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 6.6ft | 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) | No reading 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. | 50 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Otter Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~36 ft est.
Surface area
135 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. New York has not published bathymetry for Otter Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
3 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.2 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,516 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 Otter Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Otter Lake in Oneida County, New York — 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.
Top-rated places to stay near Otter Lake
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.
Planning a whole trip? See where to stay at New York’s top lakes →
Follow Otter Lake’s readings
Email me when new measurements post for this lake. Updates stay free.
Or email
Fishing Otter Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Otter Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Otter Lake Dam (completed 1880), built primarily for recreation on the OTTER LAKE OUTLET; earth-type dam, 8 ft tall and 127 ft long.
- Surface area
- 135 ac
- Normal storage
- 269 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 358 ac-ft
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- NYS DEC
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NY00804 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Oneida County
Frequently asked questions about Otter Lake
Where is Otter Lake?
- Otter Lake is a lake in Oneida County, New York. Its water-quality measurements are published by NY DEC and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Otter Lake?
- Otter Lake in Oneida County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 6.6 ft visibility. Surface area: 135 acres.
Is Otter Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Otter Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Otter Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 36 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 135 acres.
Explore Otter Lake across LakeQuality
More lakes in New York
Other Lakes in New York
Eutrophic Lakes in New York
Where this data comes from
8 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS8 samples · 2020
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)