Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake
Stafford County, KansasView mapDirections
KDHE publishes the water-quality measurements for Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- 27 ft max depth
- Limited data
Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake in Stafford County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 0.8 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 105 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 25 µg/L.
Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake is a productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Stafford County, Kansas with an estimated average depth of about 27 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 1 other monitored lakes in Stafford County, Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KDHE, last sampled 2017-07-10. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
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 Quivera Big Salt Marsh 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 Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake
These are the measurements KDHE publishes for Quivera Big Salt Marsh 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 0.8 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 105 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 25 µg/L. TSI 71.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 0.8ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 105µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 25µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 71 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
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Lake Details
Max depth
~27 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Kansas has not published bathymetry for Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
170 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
1,080 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
9.2 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,745 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 Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake in Stafford County, Kansas — 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. The water-quality readings cover nutrients and algae, not lodging. Cabins and rentals around Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake are listed below.
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Fishing Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2014–2017). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening2 years
Phosphorus
Stable-1.33 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+2 µg/L/yr2 years
Nearby Lakes in Stafford County
Frequently asked questions about Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake
Where is Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake?
- Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake is a lake in Stafford County, Kansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by KDHE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake?
- Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake in Stafford County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 0.8 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 105 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 25 µg/L.
Is Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Quivera Big Salt Marsh Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 27 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
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Where this data comes from
10 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2014–2017. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Kansas Department Of Health And Environment
21KAN001_WQX10 samples · 2014–2017
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)