St Joseph Lake
Perry County, OhioView mapDirections
Ohio EPA publishes the water-quality measurements for St Joseph Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- 28 ft max depth
- Limited data
St Joseph Lake in Perry County, Ohio has water-quality measurements published by Ohio EPA, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 58.9 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 58.7 µg/L.
St Joseph Lake is a highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Perry County, Ohio with an estimated average depth of about 28 feet. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Perry County, St Joseph Lake ranks #3 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Ohio EPA, last sampled 2022-10-24. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyLimited data
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 St Joseph Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for St Joseph Lake
These are the measurements Ohio EPA publishes for St Joseph Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data. Phosphorus 58.9 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 58.7 µg/L. TSI 67.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | No reading How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. | |
| Total phosphorus | 58.9µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 58.7µg/L | Poor GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 67 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about St Joseph Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~28 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Ohio has not published bathymetry for St Joseph Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
8 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
64 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.8 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
879 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 St Joseph Lake
Compare lakeside cabins, hotels, and vacation rentals near St Joseph Lake in Perry County, Ohio — 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. The water-quality readings cover nutrients and algae, not lodging. Cabins and rentals around St Joseph Lake are listed below.
Top-rated places to stay near St Joseph Lake
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Fishing St Joseph Lake
Nearby Lakes in Perry County
Frequently asked questions about St Joseph Lake
Where is St Joseph Lake?
- St Joseph Lake is a lake in Perry County, Ohio. Its water-quality measurements are published by Ohio EPA and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of St Joseph Lake?
- St Joseph Lake in Perry County, Ohio has water-quality measurements published by Ohio EPA, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 58.9 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 58.7 µg/L.
Is St Joseph Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is St Joseph Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers St Joseph Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 28 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
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Where this data comes from
28 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2022. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Division of Surface water (Ohio)
21OHIO_WQX28 samples · 2022
Analytical methods
- Total Phosphorus After Block Digestion
- 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)