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.

On our A–F scale, oligotrophic lakes almost always pull an A or B — the same low-nutrient conditions that produce the trophic class also produce the high grade.

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