Piney Creek Lake
Garrett County, Maryland110 acresView mapDirections
MDE publishes the water-quality measurements for Piney Creek Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Mercury
- Limited data
Piney Creek Lake in Garrett County, Maryland has water-quality measurements published by MDE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3.1 ft visibility. Surface area: 110 acres.
Piney Creek Lake is a 110-acre lake in Garrett County, Maryland. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, your state environmental agency, last sampled 2022-10-18. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Piney Creek Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Piney Creek Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Maryland Department of the Environment and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Piney Creek Lake
These are the measurements MDE publishes for Piney Creek Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Very murky, less than 3.1 ft of visibility. TSI 61.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 3.1ft | 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. | 61 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Piney Creek Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Surface area
110 acres
No bathymetric survey has been published for Piney Creek Lake, so its depth is not documented here.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Piney Creek Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Piney Creek Lake in Garrett County, Maryland — 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 Piney Creek Lake
Prices for Oct 2–4, 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.
Follow Piney Creek Lake’s readings
Email me when new measurements post for this lake. Updates stay free.
Or email
Fishing Piney Creek Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2021–2022). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Piney Creek Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Frostburg Reservoir (completed 1990), built primarily for water supply on the Big Piney Run; earth-type dam, 46 ft tall and 1,275 ft long.
- Surface area
- 110 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,410 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 3,276 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 11.9 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- City of Frostburg
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID MD00009 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.94 km)
EPA Impairment Status
Piney Creek Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Fish consumption.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit MD-050202040038-Big_Piney_Reservoir · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Garrett County
Frequently asked questions about Piney Creek Lake
Where is Piney Creek Lake?
- Piney Creek Lake is a lake in Garrett County, Maryland. Its water-quality measurements are published by MDE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Piney Creek Lake?
- Piney Creek Lake in Garrett County, Maryland has water-quality measurements published by MDE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3.1 ft visibility. Surface area: 110 acres.
Is Piney Creek Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Piney Creek Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Explore Piney Creek Lake across LakeQuality
More lakes in Maryland
Other Lakes in Maryland
Eutrophic Lakes in Maryland
Where this data comes from
86 measurements from 3 monitoring stations, 2021–2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Submitting organization not recorded for these samples86 samples · 2021–2022
Monitoring station identifiers (3)
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