Rampart Reservoir
El Paso County, Colorado300 acresView mapDirections
Colorado WQCD publishes the water-quality measurements for Rampart Reservoir. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- 84 ft max depth
- Limited data
Rampart Reservoir in El Paso County, Colorado has water-quality measurements published by Colorado WQCD, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 28.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 34 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 1 µg/L. Surface area: 300 acres.
Rampart Reservoir is a 300-acre cold, clear oligotrophic lake in El Paso County, Colorado with an estimated average depth of about 84 feet. Compared to the 1 other monitored lakes in El Paso County, Rampart Reservoir ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, CDPHE, last sampled 2022-09-01. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Rampart Reservoir covers about 300 acres in El Paso County. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Rampart Reservoir, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
What Rampart Reservoir is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water28.5 ft of visibility
- Camping2 public campgrounds nearby
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 Rampart Reservoir is safe to swim in today is a call for the Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Rampart Reservoir
These are the measurements Colorado WQCD publishes for Rampart Reservoir, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Crystal clear, you can see 28.5 ft down. Phosphorus 34 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 1 µg/L. TSI 38.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 28.5ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 34µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 1µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 38 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Rampart Reservoir
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~84 ft est.
Surface area
300 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Colorado has not published bathymetry for Rampart Reservoir.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
7 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
8.4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
9,003 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.
Recreation & Access
Public campgrounds near Rampart Reservoir
Nearest public campgrounds in the USGS National Map inventory, within about 3 miles. An empty list means USGS records no campground that close, which is not the same as camping being unavailable. Where the source gives an official reservation link, it is used; the cabin and hotel search does not cover campsites. More camping lakes
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Rampart Reservoir
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Rampart Reservoir in El Paso County, Colorado — 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 Rampart Reservoir
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Fishing Rampart Reservoir
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Rampart Reservoir is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Rampart (completed 1970), built primarily for hydroelectric on the West Monument Creek; earth-type dam, 250 ft tall and 3,400 ft long.
- Surface area
- 300 ac
- Normal storage
- 41,000 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 5.6 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Colorado Springs, City of
All listed purposes: Hydroelectric;Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond;Fish and Wildlife Pond;Recreation;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID CO00434 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in El Paso County
Frequently asked questions about Rampart Reservoir
Where is Rampart Reservoir?
- Rampart Reservoir is a lake in El Paso County, Colorado. Its water-quality measurements are published by Colorado WQCD and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Rampart Reservoir?
- Rampart Reservoir in El Paso County, Colorado has water-quality measurements published by Colorado WQCD, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 28.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 34 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 1 µg/L. Surface area: 300 acres.
Is Rampart Reservoir safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Rampart Reservoir?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Rampart Reservoir, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 84 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 300 acres.
Are there campgrounds on Rampart Reservoir?
- Rampart Reservoir has 2 public campgrounds from USGS The National Map within 5 km, including Thunder Ridge, Meadow Ridge. This is a location join, not a booking. Cabins and hotels are listed separately; campsite reservations use the official link when the source provides one.
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Where this data comes from
18 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Colorado Dept. of Public Health & Environment-WQCD
21COL001_WQX18 samples · 2022
Analytical methods
- Secchi disk depth measurement
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
- 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
- Nitrogen in Water by Pyrolysis Detection
Monitoring station identifiers (2)
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)
Public campgrounds from USGS The National Map Structures, within about 3 miles