Pena Blanca Lake
Santa Cruz County, Arizona45 acresView mapDirections
No nutrient or algae sampling on record from ADEQ for this lake.
- Impaired · Mercury
- 14 ft max depth
- Public access
- Limited data
Pena Blanca Lake in Santa Cruz County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 45 acres.
Pena Blanca Lake is a 45-acre lake in Santa Cruz County, Arizona with an estimated average depth of about 14 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 1 public boat landing.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ADEQ, last sampled 2026-04-06. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Pena Blanca Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Boat launch1 documented ramp
- Camping2 public campgrounds nearby
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Pena Blanca Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Pena Blanca Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Pena Blanca Lake
These are the measurements ADEQ publishes for Pena Blanca Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data.
Ask about Pena Blanca Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~14 ft est.
Surface area
45 acres
Public access
Yes
Listed by ADEQ
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Arizona has not published bathymetry for Pena Blanca Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
13 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
3,848 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
- Pena Blanca LakePublic
Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps
Public campgrounds near Pena Blanca Lake
- White Rock2.0 km
- Calabasas4.0 km
Nearest public campgrounds in the USGS National Map inventory, within about 3 miles. An empty list means USGS records no campground that close, which is not the same as camping being unavailable. Where the source gives an official reservation link, it is used; the cabin and hotel search does not cover campsites. More camping lakes
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Pena Blanca Lake
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Fishing Pena Blanca Lake
Water quality readings over time
3 seasons of samples on record (2012–2014). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Phosphorus
Worsening+375 µg/L/yr3 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Pena Blanca Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Pena Blanca (completed 1958), built primarily for fish and wildlife pond on the Pena Blanca Creek; rockfill-type dam, 78 ft tall and 235 ft long.
- Surface area
- 45 ac
- Normal storage
- 975 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,240 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 15 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- ARIZONA GAME & FISH DEPARTMENT
All listed purposes: Fish and Wildlife Pond;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID AZ00028 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Pena Blanca 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, Fish consumption.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit AZL15050301-1070_00 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Santa Cruz County
Frequently asked questions about Pena Blanca Lake
Where is Pena Blanca Lake?
- Pena Blanca Lake is a lake in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. Its water-quality measurements are published by ADEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Pena Blanca Lake?
- Pena Blanca Lake in Santa Cruz County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 45 acres.
Is Pena Blanca Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Pena Blanca Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Pena Blanca Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Pena Blanca Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 14 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 45 acres.
Are there boat ramps on Pena Blanca Lake?
- Pena Blanca Lake has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Pena Blanca Lake. Public access is listed as yes.
Can I fish at Pena Blanca Lake?
- Pena Blanca Lake has 1 documented boat landing in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Seasons, size and bag limits, and whether you need a license are set by Arizona's fish and wildlife agency, so check its current regulations before you go.
Are there campgrounds on Pena Blanca Lake?
- Pena Blanca Lake has 2 public campgrounds from USGS The National Map within 5 km, including White Rock, Calabasas. This is a location join, not a booking. Cabins and hotels are listed separately; campsite reservations use the official link when the source provides one.
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Where this data comes from
10 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2022–2026. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Great Lakes Environmental Center
GLEC10 samples · 2022–2026
Analytical methods
- 4500 P E ~ Phosphorus in Water by Colorimetry- Ascorbic Acid Method
- 300.0 ~ EPA; Determination of Inorganic Anions by Ion Chromatography
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
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
Public campgrounds from USGS The National Map Structures, within about 3 miles