Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone
Wise County, Virginia156 acresView mapDirections
This is the name Virginia DEQ records for this water. It can describe one sampling location rather than the water as a whole.
Virginia DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone. Here is what has been measured.
- Mesotrophic
- Impaired · Mercury
- 15 ft max depth
Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone in Wise County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 12.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 2.1 µg/L. Surface area: 156.1 acres.
Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone is a 156-acre mesotrophic lake in Wise County, Virginia with an estimated average depth of about 15 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Wise County, Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone ranks #2 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2026-07-09. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water12.5 ft of visibility
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. Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone 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 Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone, 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 12.5 ft. Phosphorus 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 2.1 µg/L. TSI 39.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 12.5ft | 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) | 2.1µg/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. | 39 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~15 ft est.
Surface area
156 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 Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
3,136 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 Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 4 years of monitoring (2014–2026).
Water clarity
Improving4 years
Phosphorus
Improving-0.21 µg/L/yr4 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-0.12 µg/L/yr4 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Big Cherry Rcc Dam, built primarily for water supply on the South Fork Powell River; concrete-type dam, 70 ft tall and 400 ft long.
- Surface area
- 156.1 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,941 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 5,550 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 5.56 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Town of Big Stone Gap
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VA195016 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.08 km)
EPA Impairment Status
Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone 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: Fish consumption.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit VAS-P18L_PLL01L02 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Wise County
Frequently asked questions about Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone
Where is Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone?
- Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone is in Wise County, Virginia. This is the name Virginia DEQ records for this water. It can describe one sampling location rather than the water as a whole. Its water-quality measurements are published by Virginia DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone?
- Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone in Wise County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 12.5 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 2.1 µg/L. Surface area: 156.1 acres.
Is Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for mercury. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 15 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 156.1 acres.
Explore Sta Big Cherry Reservoir East of Big Stone across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
108 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2014–2026. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
21VASWCB108 samples · 2014–2026
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 (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)