Clearest Lake in North Carolina: Top 25 by Secchi Depth

Wolf Creek Reservoir in Jackson County is the clearest lake in North Carolina by Secchi depth, at 19.7 ft. Secchi depth is measured by lowering a black-and-white disk until it disappears from view; a deeper reading means clearer water. Wolf Creek Reservoir’s phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings are on its page.

They span 5.9 ft to 19.7 ft of Secchi depth, with a median of 10 ft. Wolf Creek Reservoir leads by 3.3 ft. Graham County has 4 of the 25; the rest are spread across 15 other counties.

Water clarity is measured by Secchi depth, named after the 19th-century Italian astronomer Pietro Angelo Secchi who developed the method. A standardized black-and-white disk is lowered into the water on a rope; the depth (in feet or meters) at which the disk disappears from view is recorded. Greater Secchi depth means clearer water, usually a sign of low sediment, low phosphorus, and limited algae growth. The figure for each lake here is the median of its readings.

Lake clarity is driven by three factors: low suspended sediment (clay, silt), low nutrient load (especially phosphorus, which fuels algae), and low chlorophyll-a (active algae biomass). Deep lakes with rocky basins and forested watersheds tend to be clearest because they take in little soil runoff and few nutrients. Shallow lakes in farmed watersheds are typically less clear because they receive more sediment and fertilizer runoff.

Not always. Clarity (Secchi depth) is measured and shown; nutrient and algae readings (total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a) are a separate measurement, compared against that lake’s EPA ecoregion classes. A lake can be very clear but still have elevated phosphorus that just hasn't bloomed yet. See our companion cleanest-lakes ranking for North Carolina for the nutrient-and-algae list.