Upper White Oak Lake
Ouachita County, Arkansas598 acresView mapDirections
Arkansas DEQ publishes the water-quality measurements for Upper White Oak Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Eutrophic
- 52 ft max depth
- Limited data
Upper White Oak Lake in Ouachita County, Arkansas has water-quality measurements published by Arkansas DEQ, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 40 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 25.1 µg/L. Surface area: 597.8 acres.
Upper White Oak Lake is a 598-acre productive, nutrient-rich eutrophic lake in Ouachita County, Arkansas with an estimated average depth of about 52 feet. Compared to the 2 other monitored lakes in Ouachita County, Upper White Oak Lake ranks #1 for water quality.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ADEQ, last sampled 2025-10-28. 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 Upper White Oak Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Upper White Oak Lake
These are the measurements Arkansas DEQ publishes for Upper White Oak Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data. Phosphorus 40 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 25.1 µg/L. TSI 60.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | No reading How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. | |
| Total phosphorus | 40µg/L | Good GoodFairPoor |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 25.1µg/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. | 60 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
Ask about Upper White Oak Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~52 ft est.
Surface area
598 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Arkansas has not published bathymetry for Upper White Oak Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
21 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
10.7 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
233 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 Upper White Oak Lake
Water Quality Trend: Stable
Based on 4 years of monitoring (2019–2025).
Chlorophyll-a
Stable+0.25 µg/L/yr4 years
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Upper White Oak Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the White Oak Lake Upper Dam (completed 1960), built primarily for recreation on the White Oak Creek; earth-type dam, 21 ft tall and 1,280 ft long.
- Surface area
- 597.8 ac
- Normal storage
- 4,940 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 16,100 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 19.4 sq mi
- Hazard class
- Significant
- Owner
- Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID AR00634 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.18 km)
Nearby Lakes in Ouachita County
Frequently asked questions about Upper White Oak Lake
Where is Upper White Oak Lake?
- Upper White Oak Lake is a lake in Ouachita County, Arkansas. Its water-quality measurements are published by Arkansas DEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Upper White Oak Lake?
- Upper White Oak Lake in Ouachita County, Arkansas has water-quality measurements published by Arkansas DEQ, shown here as reported. Phosphorus: 40 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 25.1 µg/L. Surface area: 597.8 acres.
Is Upper White Oak Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Upper White Oak Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Upper White Oak Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 52 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 597.8 acres.
Explore Upper White Oak Lake across LakeQuality
More lakes in Arkansas
Other Lakes in Arkansas
Eutrophic Lakes in Arkansas
Where this data comes from
30 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2019–2025. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
ARDEQH2O_WQX30 samples · 2019–2025
Analytical methods
- 4500 P J ~ Persulfate Method for Simultaneous Determination of Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus
- 445.0 ~ EPA; Chlorophyll and Pheophytin in Algae by Fluorescence
- Turbidity by Nephelometry
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)