Saratoga Lake
Saratoga County, New YorkView mapDirections
NY DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Saratoga Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 50 ft max depth
- Limited data
Saratoga Lake in Saratoga County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 11.3 ft visibility.
Saratoga Lake is a lake in Saratoga County, New York with an estimated average depth of about 50 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NYSDEC, last sampled 2020-09-14. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
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What Saratoga Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water11.3 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
No readingRecreation use not supported
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Saratoga Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Saratoga Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Saratoga Lake
These are the measurements NY DEC publishes for Saratoga Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Good clarity, visible to about 11.3 ft. TSI 42.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 11.3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading 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. | 42 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Saratoga Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Current Conditions
USGS snapshot Jul 6, 2026, 5:00 AM from gauge 01330884 (Saratoga Lake at State Hwy 9p at Saratoga Lake NY). Station page ↗ — a live reading replaces this snapshot when the gauge responds. Missing live data is not an all-clear.
Lake Details
Max depth
~50 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. New York has not published bathymetry for Saratoga Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
215 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
4,191 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
26.1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
200 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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Stays near Saratoga Lake
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Fishing Saratoga Lake
EPA Impairment Status
Saratoga Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Recreation.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit NY1101-0012 · Official waterbody report
Regulated Pollution Sources Nearby
3 EPA-permitted facilities operate within about 5 miles of Saratoga Lake under Clean Water Act (NPDES) discharge permits.
- Xtra Mart-Citgo StationBallston Spa · 2.6 mi away · NPDES NY0251763
- Thorobred MotelMalta · 2.7 mi away · NPDES NY0265829
- Hilltop Circle ApartmentsStillwater · 2.9 mi away · NPDES NY0265411
Facilities permitted to discharge under the Clean Water Act within ~5 miles; proximity does not by itself mean a facility affects this lake. Source: EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES), as of 2026-07.
Nearby Lakes in Saratoga County
Frequently asked questions about Saratoga Lake
Where is Saratoga Lake?
- Saratoga Lake is a lake in Saratoga County, New York. Its water-quality measurements are published by NY DEC and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Saratoga Lake?
- Saratoga Lake in Saratoga County, New York has water-quality measurements published by NY DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 11.3 ft visibility.
Is Saratoga Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Saratoga Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Saratoga Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Saratoga Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 50 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
What is the water level at Saratoga Lake?
- The USGS snapshot on this page for Saratoga Lake is 202.72 ft of water-surface elevation, recorded Jul 6, 2026, 5:00 AM at gauge 01330884. Current Conditions hydrates a live NWIS reading from that same station when the gauge responds. A missed live fetch is not an all-clear.
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Where this data comes from
8 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS8 samples · 2020
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
Regulated discharger data from EPA ECHO (ICIS-NPDES)
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)