Prairie Lake
Jackson County, Kansas48 acresView mapDirections
KDHE publishes the water-quality measurements for Prairie Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 44 ft max depth
- Limited data
Prairie Lake in Jackson County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 39.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 16 µg/L. Surface area: 48.3 acres.
Prairie Lake is a 48-acre lake in Jackson County, Kansas with an estimated average depth of about 44 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KDHE, last sampled 2016-06-21. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Prairie Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Prairie Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Prairie Lake
These are the measurements KDHE publishes for Prairie 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 2.3 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 39.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 16 µg/L. TSI 60.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 2.3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 39.5µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 16µg/L | Measured, not scored 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. | 60 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Prairie Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~44 ft est.
Surface area
48 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Kansas has not published bathymetry for Prairie Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
2 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,040 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 Prairie Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Prairie Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Prairie Lake Dam (completed 1948), built primarily for recreation on the Elk Creek-Tr; earth-type dam, 50 ft tall and 1,000 ft long.
- Surface area
- 48.3 ac
- Normal storage
- 676 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,022 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1.5 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- HOLTON, CITY OF
All listed purposes: Recreation;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID KS02482 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Prairie 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: Drinking water, Aquatic life, Recreation.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit KS-LM061901 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Jackson County
Frequently asked questions about Prairie Lake
Where is Prairie Lake?
- Prairie Lake is a lake in Jackson County, Kansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by KDHE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Prairie Lake?
- Prairie Lake in Jackson County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 39.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 16 µg/L. Surface area: 48.3 acres.
Is Prairie Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Prairie Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Prairie Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Prairie Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 44 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 48.3 acres.
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Where this data comes from
5 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2016. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Kansas Department Of Health And Environment
21KAN001_WQX5 samples · 2016
Analytical methods
- Depth, Secchi disk depth
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)