Late afternoon sun over Slim Lake, scattering a bright path across wind-textured water

40 lakes with water-quality readings within 4 hr of downtown

Driving from Columbus to a lake worth swimming in

O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake is the closest lake with water-quality readings to Columbus, 30 min away. Marysville Upground Reservoir has clear, low-nutrient readings and takes 51 min, 21 min more in the car, each way, for cleaner water.

Every lake below is ranked by how long the drive is, and each links to its own water-quality readings. Closest is not the same as cleanest, and this page will not pretend otherwise.

Closest water

O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake

30 min

20.1 road miles · Delaware County, OH

The shortest drive on this page.

Closest clear, low-nutrient water

Marysville Upground Reservoir

51 min

37.8 road miles · Union County, OH

21 min further than the closest lake.

Closest public access

O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake

30 min

20.1 road miles · Delaware County, OH

A boat landing or launch point is on the record for this lake.

Closer, or cleaner — the whole ladder

40 lakes, sorted by drive time from downtown Columbus. 4 of them have clear, low-nutrient readings. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania. The furthest entry is Canonsburg Lake at 3 hr 18 min.

Drive	Lake	Road miles	County	Size	Access
30 min	O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake	20.1	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
34 min	Hoover Reservoir	21.9	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
39 min	Alum Creek Lake	27.2	Delaware County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
51 min	Marysville Upground Reservoir	37.8	Union County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 2 min	Lake Logan	47.6	Hocking County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
1 hr 3 min	Buck Creek Lake	47.2	Clark County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 9 min	Somerset Reservoir	49.2	Perry County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 13 min	St Joseph Lake	51.1	Perry County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 15 min	New Lexington Reservoir	54.2	Perry County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 17 min	Amicks Reservoir	56.8	Morrow County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 18 min	Amann Reservoir	57.2	Morrow County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
1 hr 18 min	Powers Reservoir	57.5	Crawford County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
1 hr 23 min	Caesar Creek Lake	69.2	Warren County, OH	2,830 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 40 min	Upper Sandusky Reservoir	67.7	Wyandot County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 49 min	Burr Oak Reservoir	74.1	Morgan County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 54 min	Ferguson Reservoir	89.2	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 57 min	Metzger Reservoir	90.5	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
1 hr 57 min	Lost Creek Reservoir	90.8	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
1 hr 57 min	Twin Lakes Reservoir	91.1	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 3 min	Ottawa R Lake	94.3	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 10 min	Findlay Reservoir	91	Hancock County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 12 min	Bresler Reservoir	99.9	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 12 min	Williams Reservoir	99.9	Allen County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 12 min	Grand Lake St Marys	108.8	Mercer County, OH	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 23 min	Doe Run Lake	117.2	Kenton County, KY	51 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 25 min	Fremont Reservoir	103.7	Sandusky County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 30 min	Ottawa Reservoir	113.5	Putnam County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 35 min	Campbell County Lake	125.2	Campbell County, KY	193 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 42 min	Bullock Pen Lake	135.4	Boone County, KY	150 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 47 min	Greenbo Lake	119.9	Greenup County, KY	181 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 50 min	Brookville Lake	130.1	Union County, IN	4,364 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 50 min	Boltz Lake	143.2	Grant County, KY	92 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 50 min	Dutch Fork Lake	145	Washington County, PA	87 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 59 min	Auglaize R Lake	131.6	Paulding County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
3 hr 6 min	Grayson Lake	142.1	Carter County, KY	1,510 ac	✓ Public
3 hr 6 min	Kincaid Lake	142.3	Pendleton County, KY	179 ac	✓ Public
3 hr 12 min	Tiffin R Lake	140.9	Defiance County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
3 hr 13 min	Lake Elmer Davis	162.1	Owen County, KY	149 ac	✓ Public
3 hr 14 min	Maumee R Upst Independence Dam Lake	143.3	Defiance County, OH	Not recorded	Not recorded
3 hr 18 min	Canonsburg Lake	167.9	Washington County, PA	59 ac	✓ Public

What the numbers are, and are not

Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Columbus to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap network via OSRM (router.project-osrm.org) over OpenStreetMap, driving profile, free-flow. Free-flow means no traffic model and no time of day, so a weekend morning will beat these numbers and a Friday afternoon will not.

Each lake’s water-quality readings, phosphorus, nitrogen, chlorophyll-a and turbidity measured over years by state and federal agencies, are on its own page. They describe the lake’s record; they do not clear the water for a particular afternoon, and they say nothing about the beach, the boat ramp or the view. Lakes with no nutrient or algae reading on record are not listed here, because the water is the only axis this page ranks on.

Size and access come from the lake record where the agency published them. “Not recorded” means nobody documented it — it is a gap in the paperwork, not a statement about the lake.

More lakes near Columbus

Every lake within 50 miles of Columbus

Ranked on water-quality readings, with distance from town

All Ohio lakes

Counties and measurement records statewide

Drive-time pages for other cities

The same tradeoff, measured from each metro

Nearby cities

From Cincinnati

Nearest clear water: 2 hr 26 min

From Detroit

Nearest clear water: 42 min

From Cleveland

Nearest clear water: 1 hr 55 min

From Indianapolis

Nearest clear water: 2 hr 42 min

From Pittsburgh

Nearest clear water: 1 hr 22 min

From Louisville

Nearest clear water: 57 min

Common questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Marysville Upground Reservoir in Union County, Ohio. Its nutrient and algae readings are among the most favourable within reach, and the drive is 51 min, or 37.8 road miles. The closest lake of any kind with readings on record is O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake at 30 min.

21 min each way. O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake is 30 min out; Marysville Upground Reservoir, with the more favourable readings, is 51 min out.

22 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is O'Shaughnessy Reservoir Lake, 30 min away. The rest of the table shows "Not recorded" where no access point was documented, which is not the same as no access — check with the managing agency before you trailer a boat.

By road, from downtown Columbus to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap road network. They are free-flow times: no traffic, no time of day, no stops. Treat them as the floor, and add for rush hour and for the last stretch to the water.

No. The readings summarise years of phosphorus, nitrogen, algae and turbidity measurements; they describe the lake, not this afternoon. A beach closure, a bloom, or a heavy rain can change conditions overnight. Whether a lake is safe to swim in is a call for the state water agency and the county health department: check the lake's own page for its measurement record, and check the managing agency for current advisories before you get in.

Stay by the water, not by the highway

Cabins, hotels and rentals around Marysville Upground Reservoir in Union County, the closest lake to Columbus with the most favourable readings in range. 51 min from downtown.

Top-rated places to stay near Marysville Upground Reservoir

Prices for Oct 16–18, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.

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