Sabetha City Lake
Nemaha County, KansasView mapDirections
KDHE publishes the water-quality measurements for Sabetha City Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 49 ft max depth
- Limited data
Sabetha City Lake in Nemaha County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 175 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 11 µg/L.
Sabetha City Lake is a lake in Nemaha County, Kansas with an estimated average depth of about 49 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, KDHE, last sampled 2013-07-15. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Sabetha City Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Sabetha City 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 Sabetha City Lake
These are the measurements KDHE publishes for Sabetha City 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 2.1 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 175 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 11 µg/L. TSI 66.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 2.1ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 175µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 11µg/L | Measured, not scored 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. | 66 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
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Lake Details
Max depth
~49 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 Sabetha City Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
10 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
106 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,224 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 Sabetha City Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Sabetha City Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Sabetha City Lake Dam (completed 1936), built primarily for water supply on the Deer Creek; earth-type dam, 58 ft tall and 1,360 ft long.
- Normal storage
- 1,255 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 2,911 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 9.19 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Low
- Owner
- SABETHA, CITY OF
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID KS02513 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Sabetha City Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2024 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Drinking water, Aquatic life, Recreation.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit KS-LM011501 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Nemaha County
Frequently asked questions about Sabetha City Lake
Where is Sabetha City Lake?
- Sabetha City Lake is a lake in Nemaha County, Kansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by KDHE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Sabetha City Lake?
- Sabetha City Lake in Nemaha County, Kansas has water-quality measurements published by KDHE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 2.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 175 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 11 µg/L.
Is Sabetha City Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Sabetha City Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Sabetha City Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Sabetha City Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 49 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
5 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2013. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Kansas Department Of Health And Environment
21KAN001_WQX5 samples · 2013
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
Impairment status from EPA ATTAINS 303(d) database
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)