Swan Lake
Holt County, NebraskaView mapDirections
Nebraska DEE publishes the water-quality measurements for Swan Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Hypereutrophic
- 18 ft max depth
- Limited data
Swan Lake in Holt County, Nebraska has water-quality measurements published by Nebraska DEE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.8 ft visibility. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 74.8 µg/L.
Swan Lake is a highly nutrient-loaded hypereutrophic lake in Holt County, Nebraska with an estimated average depth of about 18 feet. Overall water quality is declining over recent sampling years. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Holt County, Swan Lake ranks #3 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, NDEE, last sampled 2019-09-11. 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 Swan Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Swan Lake
These are the measurements Nebraska DEE publishes for Swan Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Very murky, less than 1.8 ft of visibility. Chlorophyll-a 74.8 µg/L. TSI 71.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.8ft | 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) | 74.8µg/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. | 71 | Hypereutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Very high nutrients, dense algae, poor clarity
Ask about Swan Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~18 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Nebraska has not published bathymetry for Swan Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
5 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
195 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
2.9 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
2,303 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 Swan Lake
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Fishing Swan Lake
Water quality readings over time
2 seasons of samples on record (2018–2019). Calling a direction takes at least 4 years of the same measurement.
Water clarity
Worsening2 years
Chlorophyll-a
Worsening+16.5 µg/L/yr2 years
Nearby Lakes in Holt County
Frequently asked questions about Swan Lake
Where is Swan Lake?
- Swan Lake is a lake in Holt County, Nebraska. Its water-quality measurements are published by Nebraska DEE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Swan Lake?
- Swan Lake in Holt County, Nebraska has water-quality measurements published by Nebraska DEE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.8 ft visibility. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 74.8 µg/L.
Is Swan Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Swan Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Swan Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 18 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
Explore Swan Lake across LakeQuality
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Where this data comes from
20 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2018–2019. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy
21NEB001_WQX20 samples · 2018–2019
Analytical methods
- 447.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll a and b in phytoplankton by HPLC/UV
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)