Purtis Creek Lake
Henderson County, Texas349 acresView mapDirections
TCEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Purtis Creek Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- 47 ft max depth
Purtis Creek Lake in Henderson County, Texas has water-quality measurements published by TCEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 45 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 25.7 µg/L. Surface area: 349 acres.
Purtis Creek Lake is a 349-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Henderson County, Texas with an estimated average depth of about 47 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Henderson County, Purtis Creek Lake ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, TCEQ, last sampled 2025-09-30. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Purtis Creek Lake covers about 350 acres in Henderson County. For a place on the water, look through cabin and lake-house rentals near Purtis Creek Lake on Vrbo. For a hotel or motel room, Booking.com and Expedia both search around the lake.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyAlgae risk
Based on clarity and algae readings from past sampling — there is no live water temperature and a current cyanobacteria reading for this lake. Check your state or county health department before you swim.
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Purtis Creek Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Purtis Creek Lake
These are the measurements TCEQ publishes for Purtis 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 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 45 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 25.7 µg/L. TSI 61.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 45µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 25.7µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| 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 Purtis Creek Lake
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Lake Details
Max depth
~47 ft est.
Surface area
349 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Texas has not published bathymetry for Purtis Creek Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
11 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
3.9 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
417 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 Purtis Creek Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Purtis Creek Lake in Henderson County, Texas — 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 Purtis Creek Lake
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Fishing Purtis Creek Lake
Water Quality Trend: Worsening
Based on 6 years of monitoring (2020–2025).
Water clarity
Worsening6 years
Phosphorus
Stable+0.63 µg/L/yr6 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+2.43 µg/L/yr6 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Purtis Creek Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Cedar Creek WS SCS Site 143a Dam (completed 1985), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Purtis Creek; earth-type dam, 45 ft tall and 3,044 ft long.
- Surface area
- 349 ac
- Normal storage
- 3,768 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 8,408 ac-ft
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- HENDERSON COUNTY;TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT;TRINITY NECHES SWCD
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID TX05948 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.15 km)
Nearby Lakes in Henderson County
Frequently asked questions about Purtis Creek Lake
Where is Purtis Creek Lake?
- Purtis Creek Lake is a lake in Henderson County, Texas. Its water-quality measurements are published by TCEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Purtis Creek Lake?
- Purtis Creek Lake in Henderson County, Texas has water-quality measurements published by TCEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 45 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 25.7 µg/L. Surface area: 349 acres.
Is Purtis Creek Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Purtis Creek Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Purtis Creek Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 47 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 349 acres.
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Where this data comes from
64 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
TCEQMAIN64 samples · 2020–2025
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)