Vancouver Lake
Clark County, WashingtonView mapDirections
Washington Ecology publishes the water-quality measurements for Vancouver Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- Impaired · Nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen)
- 310 ft max depth
- Limited data
Vancouver Lake in Clark County, Washington has water-quality measurements published by Washington Ecology, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.4 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 80 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 28.6 µg/L.
Vancouver Lake is a lake in Clark County, Washington with an estimated average depth of about 310 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, WA Ecology, last sampled 2012-10-25. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Vancouver Lake on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Vancouver Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Vancouver 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 Vancouver Lake
These are the measurements Washington Ecology publishes for Vancouver 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 1.4 ft of visibility. Phosphorus 80 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a 28.6 µg/L. TSI 68.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 1.4ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | 80µg/L | Measured, not scored The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | 28.6µg/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. | 68 | Eutrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
High nutrients, frequent algae, reduced clarity
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Lake Details
Max depth
~310 ft est.
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Washington has not published bathymetry for Vancouver Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
32 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Surface area
2,219 acres
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
10.3 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
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 Vancouver Lake
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Fishing Vancouver Lake
EPA Impairment Status
Vancouver Lake is officially listed as impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) in the 2018 EPA reporting cycle (IR category 5).
Causes of impairment
Designated uses not supporting: Aquatic life.
Source: EPA ATTAINS assessment unit WA45122G7I0_01_01 · Official waterbody report
Nearby Lakes in Clark County
Frequently asked questions about Vancouver Lake
Where is Vancouver Lake?
- Vancouver Lake is a lake in Clark County, Washington. Its water-quality measurements are published by Washington Ecology and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Vancouver Lake?
- Vancouver Lake in Clark County, Washington has water-quality measurements published by Washington Ecology, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 1.4 ft visibility. Phosphorus: 80 µg/L. Chlorophyll-a (algae): 28.6 µg/L.
Is Vancouver Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Vancouver Lake is listed impaired under Clean Water Act §303(d) (IR 5) for nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen). Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Vancouver Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Vancouver Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 310 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate.
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Where this data comes from
103 measurements from 2 monitoring stations, 2012. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- USGS Washington Water Science Center
USGS-WA103 samples · 2012
Analytical methods
- Secchi disk method
- P, wu, WCA, persulfate CF color
- Particulate-P, phosphomolybdate
- Plant pigments, sonication & 445
Monitoring station identifiers (2)
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)