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LakeQuality

Ramah Reservoir Deep

McKinley County, New Mexico514 acresView mapDirections

No nutrient or algae sampling on record from NMED for this lake.

Max depth
~18 ft est.
GLOBathy model
Area
514 acres
Surface area
  • Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
  • 18 ft max depth
  • Limited data

Ask about Ramah Reservoir Deep

Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.

Ramah Reservoir Deep in McKinley County, New Mexico has water-quality measurements published by NMED, shown here as reported. Surface area: 514 acres.

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Ramah Reservoir Deep is a 514-acre lake in McKinley County, New Mexico with an estimated average depth of about 18 feet.

Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NMED, last sampled 2021-05-04. Grade methodology: LakeQuality methodology.

Swimming conditions

No reading

Limited data

Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Ramah Reservoir Deep is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.

Whether Ramah Reservoir Deep is safe to swim in today is a call for the New Mexico Environment Department and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.

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Water quality measurements for Ramah Reservoir Deep

These are the measurements NMED publishes for Ramah Reservoir Deep, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.

No clarity data.

MetricValueEPA condition class
Water Clarity (Secchi Depth)No recent samples
PhosphorusNo recent samples
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)No recent samples

Lake Details

CharacteristicValue
Maximum Depth~18 ft est.
Surface Area514 acres

Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. New Mexico has not published bathymetry for Ramah Reservoir Deep.

Lake Size & Watershed

Watershed (drainage) area
49 sq mi
Shoreline
3.4 mi
Elevation
6,942 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.

Fishing Ramah Reservoir Deep

Reservoir Info (USACE NID)

Ramah Reservoir Deep is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Ramah Dam (completed 1900), built primarily for irrigation on the Cebolla Creek; earth-type dam, 40 ft tall and 1,100 ft long.

Surface area
514 ac
Normal storage
3,784 ac-ft
Max storage
9,620 ac-ft
Drainage area
47 sq mi
Hazard class
High
Owner
RAMAH LAND AND IRRIGATION COMPANY

Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID NM00134 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.16 km)

EPA Impairment Status

Ramah Reservoir Deep is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).

Causes of impairment

Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)

Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NM-9000.B_110 · Official waterbody report · Matched by proximity (0.82 km)

Nearby Lakes in McKinley County

Frequently asked questions about Ramah Reservoir Deep

Where is Ramah Reservoir Deep?

Ramah Reservoir Deep is a lake in McKinley County, New Mexico. Its water-quality measurements are published by NMED and shown on this page as reported.

What is the water quality of Ramah Reservoir Deep?

Ramah Reservoir Deep in McKinley County, New Mexico has water-quality measurements published by NMED, shown here as reported. Surface area: 514 acres.

Is Ramah Reservoir Deep safe to swim in?

Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Ramah Reservoir Deep is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.

How deep is Ramah Reservoir Deep?

No published bathymetric survey covers Ramah Reservoir Deep, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 18 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 514 acres.

Where this data comes from

1 measurement from 1 monitoring station, 2021. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.

Collected and reported by

  • NM Environmental Dept./SWQB21NMEX_WQX1 sample · 2021
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)