Steilacoom Lake
Pierce County, Washington317 acresView mapDirections
Washington Ecology publishes the water-quality measurements for Steilacoom Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 61 ft max depth
- Limited data
Steilacoom Lake in Pierce County, Washington has water-quality measurements published by Washington Ecology, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 17.4 ft visibility. Surface area: 317 acres.
Steilacoom Lake is a 317-acre lake in Pierce County, Washington with an estimated average depth of about 61 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, WA Ecology, last sampled 2012-07-16. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Steilacoom Lake covers about 320 acres in Pierce County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Steilacoom Lake on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
What Steilacoom Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water17.4 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Steilacoom Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Washington State Department of Ecology and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Steilacoom Lake
These are the measurements Washington Ecology publishes for Steilacoom Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Crystal clear, you can see 17.4 ft down. TSI 36.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 17.4ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading 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. | 36 | Oligotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Low nutrients, clear water. No reading is a swimming clearance.
Ask about Steilacoom Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~61 ft est.
Surface area
317 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Washington has not published bathymetry for Steilacoom Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
81 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
3.8 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
210 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 Steilacoom Lake
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Top-rated places to stay near Steilacoom Lake
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Fishing Steilacoom Lake
Water Quality Trend: Stable
Based on 7 years of monitoring (2012–2022).
Water clarity
Stable7 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Steilacoom Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Steilacoom Lake Dam (completed 1989), built primarily for fish and wildlife pond on the Chambers Creek; gravity-type dam, 28 ft tall and 120 ft long.
- Surface area
- 317 ac
- Normal storage
- 2,640 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 6,970 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 62 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- Lakewood City
All listed purposes: Fish and Wildlife Pond;Recreation.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID WA00139 · Operator website
Nearby Lakes in Pierce County
Frequently asked questions about Steilacoom Lake
Where is Steilacoom Lake?
- Steilacoom Lake is a lake in Pierce County, Washington. Its water-quality measurements are published by Washington Ecology and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Steilacoom Lake?
- Steilacoom Lake in Pierce County, Washington has water-quality measurements published by Washington Ecology, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 17.4 ft visibility. Surface area: 317 acres.
Is Steilacoom Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Steilacoom Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Steilacoom Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 61 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 317 acres.
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Where this data comes from
1 measurement from 1 monitoring station, 2012. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- North American Lake Management Society
NALMS1 sample · 2012
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)