Sunset Lake
Windham County, Vermont95 acresView mapDirections
Vermont DEC publishes the water-quality measurements for Sunset Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Oligotrophic
- Impaired · pH / acidity
- 37 ft max depth
Sunset Lake in Windham County, Vermont has water-quality measurements published by Vermont DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 17.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10.1 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 1.8 µg/L. Surface area: 95 acres.
Sunset Lake is a 95-acre cold, clear oligotrophic lake in Windham County, Vermont with an estimated average depth of about 37 feet. Overall water quality is improving over recent sampling years. Compared to the 8 other monitored lakes in Windham County, Sunset Lake ranks #7 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, VT DEC, last sampled 2024-04-09. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Sunset Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water17.9 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. Sunset Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Sunset Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Sunset Lake
These are the measurements Vermont DEC publishes for Sunset 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 17.9 ft down. Phosphorus 10.1 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 1.8 µg/L. TSI 36.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 17.9ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 10.1µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 1.8µg/L | Measured, not scored 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 Sunset Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~37 ft est.
Surface area
95 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Vermont has not published bathymetry for Sunset Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1.9 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,381 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 Sunset Lake
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Fishing Sunset Lake
Water Quality Trend: Improving
Based on 4 years of monitoring (2020–2023).
Water clarity
Improving4 years
Phosphorus
Improving-0.73 µg/L/yr4 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Sunset Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Sunset Lake (completed 1910), built primarily for water supply on the Stickney Brook; earth-type dam, 14 ft tall and 323 ft long.
- Surface area
- 95 ac
- Normal storage
- 0 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 680 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 0.85 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Significant
- Owner
- TOWN OF BRATTLEBORO
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID VT00078 · Operator website
EPA Impairment Status
Sunset Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2022 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 4A).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan has been approved.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit VT11-08L01 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Windham County
Frequently asked questions about Sunset Lake
Where is Sunset Lake?
- Sunset Lake is a lake in Windham County, Vermont. Its water-quality measurements are published by Vermont DEC and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Sunset Lake?
- Sunset Lake in Windham County, Vermont has water-quality measurements published by Vermont DEC, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 17.9 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 10.1 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 1.8 µg/L. Surface area: 95 acres.
Is Sunset Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Sunset Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 4A) for pH / acidity. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Sunset Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Sunset Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 37 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 95 acres.
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Where this data comes from
86 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2020–2024. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Vermont Dept of Environmental Conservation
1VTDECWQ86 samples · 2020–2024
Analytical methods
- 4500 P H ~ Manual Digestion and Flow Injection Analysis for Total Phosphorus
- EPA approved Alternate Test Procedure for 4500 P H. Has a 28 day hold without acid preservation.
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- 2130 B ~ Nephelometric Method
- 2120 B ~ Color in Water by Visual Comparison
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)