Owasco Lake
Cayuga County, New YorkView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Owasco Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Pathogens (E. coli, fecal)
- Limited data
Owasco Lake in Cayuga County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 11 ft visibility.
Owasco Lake is a lake in Cayuga County, New York.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2020-09-15. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
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What Owasco Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water11 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
No readingBacteria advisory
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Owasco Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pathogens (E. coli, fecal). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Owasco 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 Owasco Lake
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Owasco Lake, 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 11 ft. TSI 43.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 11ft | 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. | 43 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Owasco Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Current Conditions
USGS snapshot Jul 6, 2026, 5:00 AM from gauge 04235396 (Owasco Lake Near Auburn NY). Station page ↗ — a live reading replaces this snapshot when the gauge responds. Missing live data is not an all-clear.
→ Owasco Lake water level: the live USGS gauge reading
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Stays near Owasco Lake
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Fishing Owasco Lake
EPA Impairment Status
Owasco Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Recreation.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NY0706-0009 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Cayuga County
Frequently asked questions about Owasco Lake
Where is Owasco Lake?
- Owasco Lake is a lake in Cayuga 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 Owasco Lake?
- Owasco Lake in Cayuga County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 11 ft visibility.
Is Owasco Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Owasco Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pathogens (E. coli, fecal). Check local advisories before you swim.
What is the water level at Owasco Lake?
- The USGS snapshot on this page for Owasco Lake is 712.4 ft of water-surface elevation, recorded Jul 6, 2026, 5:00 AM at gauge 04235396. Current Conditions hydrates a live NWIS reading from that same station when the gauge responds. A missed live fetch is not an all-clear.
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Where this data comes from
7 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
NALMS7 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
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database