What are oligotrophic lakes in Virginia?

17 oligotrophic lakes in Virginia. Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

What does oligotrophic mean?

Low nutrients, clear water, excellent for swimming.

Oligotrophic Lakes in Virginia

An oligotrophic lake is what most people picture when they think of pristine northern lake country: clarity to depth, no algal scum, cold water that holds dissolved oxygen all the way to the bottom even in August. Across Virginia, 17 lakes register as oligotrophic — 0% of them break 50 feet of depth, which is the structural condition that underwrites the trophic class. Without depth and a low-nutrient watershed, oligotrophy is hard to sustain.

Oligotrophic lakes almost always carry the lowest phosphorus and chlorophyll-a readings on record, since the same low-nutrient conditions produce both the trophic class and the clear water.

#	Lake	County	Clarity	Depth	TSI
1	Mouth of Witcher Cr. Lake	Bedford	11.2 ft	-	39
2	Dam Lake	Franklin	12.1 ft	-	38
3	Dam Lake	Alleghany	12.1 ft	-	38
4	Goose Point Lake	Franklin	10.2 ft	-	38
5	Mouth Craddock Cr. Lake	Bedford	10.2 ft	-	39
6	Above Dam Lake	Albemarle	13.1 ft	-	38
7	Carvins Cove Reservoir	Botetourt	11.5 ft	-	37
8	Bolar Mtn. Campground Lake	Bath	9.2 ft	-	40
9	Mouth Big Lick Cr. Lake	Alleghany	12.5 ft	-	38
10	Lake Robertson	Rockbridge	13.9 ft	-	38
11	North Fork Pound Reservoir@Dam	Wise	12.1 ft	-	39
12	Silver Lake	Rockingham	4.9 ft	-	43
13	Near Spillway Lake Mooney	Stafford	9.2 ft	-	39
14	Coles Run Reservoir	Augusta	25.8 ft	-	27
15	Horseshoe Point Lake	Patrick	9.8 ft	-	39
16	John Flannagan Reservoir	Dickenson	13.1 ft	-	37
17	Mcveigh Ford Lake	Franklin	3.9 ft	-	45

All oligotrophic lakes →Minnesota version →Wisconsin version →Illinois version →Michigan version →Iowa version →Ohio version →Pennsylvania version →New York version →Missouri version →Indiana version →North Dakota version →South Dakota version →Florida version →Colorado version →North Carolina version →Vermont version →Texas version →Oregon version →Arkansas version →Oklahoma version →Kansas version →Nebraska version →Nevada version →Arizona version →Idaho version →Montana version →New Mexico version →Tennessee version →Alabama version →Kentucky version →Utah version →Washington version →Wyoming version →Georgia version →Massachusetts version →Ontario version →Québec version →Nova Scotia version →British Columbia version →Newfoundland and Labrador version →All Virginia lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.