Smith Lake
Stafford County, Virginia225 acresView mapDirections
Virginia DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Smith Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Mesotrophic
- 31 ft max depth
Smith Lake in Stafford County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 8.2 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 2.3 µg/L. Surface area: 225 acres.
Smith Lake is a 225-acre mesotrophic lake in Stafford County, Virginia with an estimated average depth of about 31 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 4 other monitored lakes in Stafford County, Smith Lake ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2026-06-16. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Smith Lake covers about 230 acres in Stafford County. Vrbo is where to look for cabins and lake homes around Smith Lake, and Booking.com and Expedia search hotels near the lake for your dates.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLow 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 Smith 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 Smith Lake
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Smith Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Moderate clarity, visible to about 8.2 ft. Phosphorus 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 2.3 µg/L. TSI 41.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 8.2ft | 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) | 2.3µg/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. | 41 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Smith Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~31 ft est.
Surface area
225 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 Smith Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
56 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.7 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
135 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 Smith Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near Smith Lake in Stafford County, Virginia — 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.
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Fishing Smith Lake
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 7 years of monitoring (2013–2026).
Water clarity
Improving7 years
Phosphorus
Improving-1 µg/L/yr6 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-0.09 µg/L/yr5 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Smith Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Aquia Creek Dam, built primarily for water supply on the Aquia Creek; earth-type dam, 81 ft tall and 1,600 ft long.
- Surface area
- 225 ac
- Normal storage
- 6,500 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 10,800 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 55.2 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Stafford County - County Administrator
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VA179009 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Stafford County
Frequently asked questions about Smith Lake
Where is Smith Lake?
- Smith Lake is a lake in Stafford County, Virginia. Its water-quality measurements are published by Virginia DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Smith Lake?
- Smith Lake in Stafford County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 8.2 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 2.3 µg/L. Surface area: 225 acres.
Is Smith Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Smith Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Smith Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 31 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 225 acres.
Explore Smith Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
409 measurements from 5 monitoring stations, 2013–2026. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
21VASWCB409 samples · 2013–2026
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
- 446.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophylls and Pheopigments in Phytoplankton by Spectrophotometry
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
Monitoring station identifiers (5)
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)