Station Lake
Pittsylvania County, Virginia125 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 Station Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- 36 ft max depth
Station Lake in Pittsylvania County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3.6 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 20 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 7.7 µg/L. Surface area: 125.4 acres.
Station Lake is a 125-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Pittsylvania County, Virginia with an estimated average depth of about 36 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Pittsylvania County, Station Lake ranks #3 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, Virginia DEQ, last sampled 2024-10-28. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Swimming conditions
Readings onlyModerate 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 Station 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 Station Lake
These are the measurements Virginia DEQ publishes for Station 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 3.6 ft. Phosphorus 20 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 7.7 µg/L. TSI 52.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 3.6ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 20µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 7.7µg/L | Fair GoodFairPoor |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 52 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Station Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~36 ft est.
Surface area
125 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 Station Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
14 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
3.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
682 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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Stays near Station Lake
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Fishing Station Lake
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 5 years of monitoring (2012–2024).
Water clarity
Stable5 years
Phosphorus
Stable-0.44 µg/L/yr5 years
Chlorophyll-a
Improving-0.46 µg/L/yr5 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Station Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Cherrystone Creek Dam # 1, built primarily for flood risk reduction on the Cherrystone Creek; earth-type dam, 57 ft tall and 790 ft long.
- Surface area
- 125.4 ac
- Normal storage
- 1,092 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 7,152 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 14.67 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Town of Chatham
All listed purposes: Flood Risk Reduction;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VA143002 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.04 km)
Nearby Lakes in Pittsylvania County
Frequently asked questions about Station Lake
Where is Station Lake?
- Station Lake is in Pittsylvania 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 Station Lake?
- Station Lake in Pittsylvania County, Virginia has water-quality measurements published by Virginia DEQ, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 3.6 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 20 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 7.7 µg/L. Surface area: 125.4 acres.
Is Station Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Station Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Station Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 36 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 125.4 acres.
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Eutrophic Lakes in Virginia
Where this data comes from
151 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2012–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
21VASWCB151 samples · 2012–2024
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
- 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)