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LakeQuality

Skiatook Lake

Osage County, Oklahoma10,540 acresView mapDirections

Oklahoma DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Skiatook Lake. Here is what has been measured.

Clarity
5.9 ft
Secchi · sampled 2024
Area
10,540 acres
Surface area
Trend
Stable
2 years of samples
  • Impaired · Mercury
  • Public access
  • Limited data

Ask about Skiatook Lake

Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.

Skiatook Lake in Osage County, Oklahoma has water-quality measurements published by Oklahoma DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5.9 ft visibility. Surface area: 10540 acres.

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Skiatook Lake is a 10,540-acre lake in Osage County, Oklahoma. Water clarity is improving over recent sampling years. Limited fish-species data available. Public access is available with 6 public boat landings.

Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ODEQ, last sampled 2024-09-25. Grade methodology: LakeQuality methodology.

What Skiatook Lake is good for

From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.

  • Boat launch6 documented ramps
  • Big water10,540 acres

Swimming conditions

No reading

Limited data

Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Skiatook Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.

Whether Skiatook Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.

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Water quality measurements for Skiatook Lake

These are the measurements Oklahoma DEQ publishes for Skiatook 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 5.9 ft. TSI 52.

MetricValueEPA condition class
Water Clarity (Secchi Depth)5.9 ftMeasured, not scored
PhosphorusNo recent samples
Chlorophyll-a (Algae)No recent samples
Trophic State Index (TSI)52Eutrophic

High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity

Lake Details

CharacteristicValue
Surface Area10,540 acres
Public AccessYes

No bathymetric survey has been published for Skiatook Lake, so its depth is not documented here.

Recreation & Access

6
Boat Landings
Yes
Public Access
  • Bull Creek PeninsulaPublic
  • Hominy LandingPublic
  • Eagle CreekPublic
  • Black Dog 1Public
  • Black Dog 2Public
  • Osage ParkPublic

Named access points in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory, within about 3 miles. More lakes with boat ramps

Fishing Skiatook Lake

Based on 2 years of monitoring data (2020-2025).

MetricTrendChange/YearYears
Water Clarity Improving+19.706 m/yr2
Phosphorus Declining+1.4 µg/L/yr2
Chlorophyll-a Stable-0.06 µg/L/yr2

Reservoir Info (USACE NID)

Skiatook Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Skiatook Dam (completed 1984), built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Hominy Creek; earth-type dam, 143 ft tall and 3,590 ft long.

Surface area
10,540 ac
Normal storage
331,200 ac-ft
Max storage
893,000 ac-ft
Drainage area
354 sq mi
Hazard class
High
Owner
USACE - Tulsa District

All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Recreation;Water Supply.

Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID OK22200 · Operator website

EPA Impairment Status

Skiatook Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).

Causes of impairment

Mercury

Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit OK121300040080_00 · Official waterbody report

Nearby Lakes in Osage County

Frequently asked questions about Skiatook Lake

Where is Skiatook Lake?

Skiatook Lake is a lake in Osage County, Oklahoma. Its water-quality measurements are published by Oklahoma DEQ and shown on this page as reported.

What is the water quality of Skiatook Lake?

Skiatook Lake in Osage County, Oklahoma has water-quality measurements published by Oklahoma DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 5.9 ft visibility. Surface area: 10540 acres.

Is Skiatook Lake safe to swim in?

Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Skiatook Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.

Are there boat ramps on Skiatook Lake?

Skiatook Lake has 6 documented boat landings in the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory. Named access points include Bull Creek Peninsula, Hominy Landing, Eagle Creek, Black Dog 1, among others. Public access is listed as yes.

Where this data comes from

83 measurements from 7 monitoring stations, 2016–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.

Collected and reported by

  • OWRB Lakes MonitoringOKWRB-LAKES_WQX83 samples · 2016–2024

Analytical methods

  • OWRB Lakes Field Data Collection
  • Phosphorus by Two Reagent Colorimetry
  • 10200 H ~ Chlorophyll a-b-c Determination
  • Determination of Turbidity
Monitoring station identifiers (7)

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

Named boat-access points from the USGS National Boat Ramps inventory