Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake
Buckingham County, Virginia58 acresView mapDirections
Virginia DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Oxygen depletion (low DO)
- 35 ft max depth
- Limited data
Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake in Buckingham County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 11 µg/L. Surface area: 57.8 acres.
Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake is a 58-acre lake in Buckingham County, Virginia with an estimated average depth of about 35 feet. Water clarity is declining over recent sampling years.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2014-10-21. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment 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 Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment 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 3 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 11 µg/L. TSI 56.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 3ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 30µg/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. | 56 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~35 ft est.
Surface area
58 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Virginia has not published bathymetry for Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
6 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.4 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
400 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 Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2013–2014). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening2 years
Phosphorus
Stable0 µg/L/yr2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-4.5 µg/L/yr2 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Slate River Dam #2, built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Troublesome Creek; earth-type dam, 45 ft tall and 777 ft long.
- Surface area
- 57.8 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,335 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 3,180 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 6.26 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Buckingham County
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Water Supply.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VA029013 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.12 km)
EPA Impairment Status
Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment 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: Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit VAP-H21L_TBM01A06 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Buckingham County
Frequently asked questions about Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake
Where is Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake?
- Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake is a lake in Buckingham County, Virginia. Its water-quality measurements are published by Virginia DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake?
- Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake in Buckingham County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 30 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 11 µg/L. Surface area: 57.8 acres.
Is Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for oxygen depletion (low DO). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Slate River Dam Scs Impoundment Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 35 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 57.8 acres.
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Where this data comes from
52 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2013–2014. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
21VASWCB52 samples · 2013–2014
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
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)