Silver Lake
Rockingham County, VirginiaView mapDirections
Virginia DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Silver Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- Impaired · Pathogens (E. coli, fecal)
- Limited data
Silver Lake in Rockingham County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 4.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 1.9 µg/L.
Silver Lake is a cold, clear oligotrophic lake in Rockingham County, Virginia. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Rockingham County, Silver Lake ranks #2 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2016-09-13. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyBacteria advisory
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. Silver Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pathogens (E. coli, fecal). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Silver Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Silver Lake
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Silver Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Murky, only visible to about 4.9 ft. Phosphorus 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 1.9 µg/L. TSI 43.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 4.9ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 10µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 1.9µg/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. | 43 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Silver Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
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Fishing Silver Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2015–2016). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Improving2 years
Phosphorus
Worsening+5 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+8.1 µg/L/yr2 years
EPA Impairment Status
Silver 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 VAV-B25L_00 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Rockingham County
Frequently asked questions about Silver Lake
Where is Silver Lake?
- Silver Lake is a lake in Rockingham County, Virginia. Its water-quality measurements are published by Virginia DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Silver Lake?
- Silver Lake in Rockingham County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 4.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 1.9 µg/L.
Is Silver Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Silver Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for pathogens (E. coli, fecal). Check local advisories before you swim.
Explore Silver Lake across LakeQuality
Planning a trip around Shenandoah?
Silver Lake is about 26 miles from Shenandoah National Park. Crowds there swing hard by season, so the month you pick changes both how busy the park is and what lodging costs.
Best time to visit Shenandoah →More lakes in Virginia
Other Lakes in Virginia
Oligotrophic Lakes in Virginia
Where this data comes from
41 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2015–2016. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
21VASWCB41 samples · 2015–2016
Analytical methods
- Tyler, John. 1968. The secchi disk, Limnology and Oceanograpy, 13(1):1-6.
- Total Phosphorus After Block Digestion
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
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