Reformatory Lake
Oldham County, Kentucky54 acresView mapDirections
Kentucky DOW publishes the water-quality measurements for Reformatory Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 44 ft max depth
- Limited data
Reformatory Lake in Oldham County, Kentucky has water-quality measurements published by Kentucky DOW, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 15 µg/L. Surface area: 54 acres.
Reformatory Lake is a 54-acre lake in Oldham County, Kentucky with an estimated average depth of about 44 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KY DOW, last sampled 2014-10-21. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Reformatory Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Kentucky Division of Water and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Reformatory Lake
These are the measurements Kentucky DOW publishes for Reformatory Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data. Phosphorus 15 µg/L. TSI 43.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | No reading How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. | |
| Total phosphorus | 15µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading 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. | 43 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
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Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~44 ft est.
Surface area
54 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Kentucky has not published bathymetry for Reformatory Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
2 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
725 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 Reformatory Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Reformatory Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Reformatory Dam (completed 1955), built primarily for other on the Cedar Creek; earth-type dam, 32 ft tall and 800 ft long.
- Surface area
- 54 ac
- Normal storage
- 599.9 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 900 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1.67 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID KY00007 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Oldham County
Frequently asked questions about Reformatory Lake
Where is Reformatory Lake?
- Reformatory Lake is a lake in Oldham County, Kentucky. Its water-quality measurements are published by Kentucky DOW and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Reformatory Lake?
- Reformatory Lake in Oldham County, Kentucky has water-quality measurements published by Kentucky DOW, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 15 µg/L. Surface area: 54 acres.
Is Reformatory Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Reformatory Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Reformatory 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 54 acres.
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Where this data comes from
6 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2014. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- KY WQX
21KY_WQX6 samples · 2014
Analytical methods
- Phosphorus by Colorimetry
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)