Silver Lake
Windsor County, Vermont84 acresView mapDirections
Vermont DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Silver Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Mesotrophic
- 44 ft max depth
Silver Lake in Windsor County, Vermont has water-quality measurements published by Vermont DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 13.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 13.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 5.2 µg/L. Surface area: 84 acres.
Silver Lake is a 84-acre mesotrophic lake in Windsor County, Vermont with an estimated average depth of about 44 feet. Water clarity is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 7 other monitored lakes in Windsor County, Silver Lake ranks #7 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, VT DEC, last sampled 2025-10-07. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Silver Lake covers about 84 acres in Windsor County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Silver Lake on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
What Silver Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water13.1 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyModerate algae
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 Silver Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation 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 Vermont DEC 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.
Good clarity, visible to about 13.1 ft. Phosphorus 13.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 5.2 µg/L. TSI 43.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 13.1ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 13.5µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 5.2µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| 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
Ask about Silver Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~44 ft est.
Surface area
84 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Vermont has not published bathymetry for Silver Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
2 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.5 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,316 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.
Stays via Stay22
Stays near Silver Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Silver Lake in Windsor County, Vermont — 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 Silver Lake
Prices for Oct 23–25, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.
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Fishing Silver Lake
Water Quality Trend: Stable
Based on 5 years of monitoring (2021–2025).
Water clarity
Worsening5 years
Phosphorus
Stable-0.06 µg/L/yr4 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-7.6 µg/L/yr3 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Silver Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Silver Lake (completed 1968), built primarily for recreation on the Pond Brook; gravity-type dam, 30 ft tall and 100 ft long.
- Surface area
- 84 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,410 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 1,710 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 1.71 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- STATE OF VERMONT - DEC
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VT00065 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Windsor County
Frequently asked questions about Silver Lake
Where is Silver Lake?
- Silver Lake is a lake in Windsor County, Vermont. Its water-quality measurements are published by Vermont DEC and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Silver Lake?
- Silver Lake in Windsor County, Vermont has water-quality measurements published by Vermont DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 13.1 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 13.5 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 5.2 µg/L. Surface area: 84 acres.
Is Silver Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Silver Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Silver 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 84 acres.
Explore Silver Lake across LakeQuality
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Mesotrophic Lakes in Vermont
Where this data comes from
124 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2021–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Vermont Dept of Environmental Conservation
1VTDECWQ124 samples · 2021–2025
Analytical methods
- EPA approved Alternate Test Procedure for 4500 P H. Has a 28 day hold without acid preservation.
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
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)