PlaceDossier / BC places / Lakes / Rankings

Clearest lakes

Median summer Secchi depth since 2012, for lakes with at least 10 summer readings from open water, spread over at least 3 different years; the years each lake's median covers are beside it. 62 lakes ranked.

  1. 1Slocan Lake15.5 m 2015–2025, 26 readings
  2. 2Chilliwack Lake13 m 2015–2024, 11 readings
  3. 3Cowichan Lake11.7 m 2013–2025, 90 readings
  4. 4Christina Lake11.6 m 2012–2025, 36 readings
  5. 5Whiteswan Lake11.1 m 2015–2025, 18 readings
  6. 6Mabel Lake10.7 m 2012–2025, 14 readings
  7. 7White Lake10.5 m 2015–2023, 33 readings
  8. 8Adams Lake10 m 2015–2025, 12 readings
  9. 9Premier Lake10 m 2015–2025, 15 readings
  10. 10Sugar Lake9.3 m 2012–2025, 16 readings
  11. 11Morice Lake9.0 m 2015–2021, 10 readings
  12. 12Lizard Lake8.7 m 2017–2025, 10 readings
  13. 13Mara Lake7.6 m 2012–2025, 71 readings
  14. 14Little Shuswap Lake7.1 m 2012–2014, 15 readings
  15. 15Bainbridge Lake6.4 m 2015–2025, 11 readings
  16. 16Alta Lake6.4 m 2015–2025, 45 readings
  17. 17François Lake6.4 m 2016–2025, 47 readings
  18. 18Moyie Lake6.4 m 2015–2025, 26 readings
  19. 19Skaha Lake6.0 m 2012–2025, 86 readings
  20. 20Bowron Lake6.0 m 2016–2025, 14 readings
  21. 21Tyhee Lake6.0 m 2016–2025, 13 readings
  22. 22Lac Le Jeune5.8 m 2012–2016, 16 readings
  23. 23Shuswap Lake5.8 m 2012–2025, 234 readings
  24. 24Brannen Lake5.6 m 2015–2025, 11 readings
  25. 25Langford Lake5.5 m 2013–2025, 16 readings
  26. 26Babine Lake5.2 m 2016–2025, 12 readings
  27. 27Horse Lake5.1 m 2016–2025, 15 readings
  28. 28Dragon Lake5.0 m 2016–2025, 14 readings
  29. 29Lakelse Lake5.0 m 2016–2025, 13 readings
  30. 30Stuart Lake4.9 m 2016–2025, 16 readings
  31. 31Elk Lake4.8 m 2015–2025, 11 readings
  32. 32Kalamalka Lake4.8 m 2012–2025, 41 readings
  33. 33Vaseux Lake4.8 m 2021–2025, 28 readings
  34. 34Okanagan Lake4.6 m 2012–2025, 136 readings
  35. 35Windermere Lake4.4 m 2015–2025, 37 readings
  36. 36Cathedral Lakes4.3 m 2019–2023, 11 readings
  37. 37Columbia Lake4.1 m 2015–2025, 12 readings
  38. 38Cluculz Lake4.0 m 2017–2025, 30 readings
  39. 39Bendziny4.0 m 2016–2025, 18 readings
  40. 40Osoyoos Lake3.9 m 2012–2025, 97 readings
  41. 41Wood Lake (Okanagan River watershed)3.9 m 2012–2025, 28 readings
  42. 42Kathlyn Lake3.5 m 2016–2025, 13 readings
  43. 43Nicola Lake3.3 m 2015–2025, 15 readings
  44. 44Fraser Lake3.3 m 2017–2025, 32 readings
  45. 45Lake Errock3.1 m 2023–2025, 34 readings
  46. 46Paska Lake3.0 m 2014–2016, 11 readings
  47. 47Chimney Lake2.9 m 2017–2025, 15 readings
  48. 48Chain Lake2.7 m 2022–2024, 26 readings
  49. 49Naltesby Lake2.6 m 2018–2026, 15 readings
  50. 50Pennask Lake2.6 m 2015–2026, 21 readings
  51. 51Summit Lake (Crooked River watershed)2.5 m 2022–2024, 71 readings
  52. 52Diana Lake2.2 m 2016–2025, 14 readings
  53. 53Tabor Lake2.2 m 2017–2025, 59 readings
  54. 54Lake Koocanusa2.1 m 2015–2026, 997 readings
  55. 55Burns Lake1.9 m 2016–2026, 39 readings
  56. 56Moberly Lake1.9 m 2016–2026, 19 readings
  57. 57Charlie Lake1.9 m 2016–2026, 24 readings
  58. 58Nadsilnich Lake1.5 m 2017–2025, 15 readings
  59. 59Swan Lake (Lower Peace River watershed)1.3 m 2016–2025, 16 readings
  60. 60Williams Lake1.2 m 2017–2025, 10 readings
  61. 61Quamichan Lake0.9 m 2015–2025, 11 readings
  62. 62Ellison Lake0.7 m 2012–2025, 14 readings

Readings are from the province's monitoring database: samples taken by provincial staff, volunteer lake monitors, and companies and local governments that sample under their permits. We keep the ice-free season (May to October), and for phosphorus and chlorophyll only samples from the top 5 m. We leave out sites whose names put them at a water intake, a sewage or industrial outfall, a mine or a permit holder's works, or on the shore (a beach, dock or boat launch): water there can differ a lot from the open lake. Each year's figure is the median of that year's readings. We give a lake a summary, a comparison with other lakes and a nutrient level only when it has at least 10 summer readings from open water, spread over at least 3 different years, since 2012; the summary is the median of those readings. With fewer, or only older ones, we show the readings and say there are too few to judge the lake. A reading below the lab's detection limit counts at that limit. One site can be a bay rather than the open lake, so a lake's figures can differ from one end to the other.

Source: BC Environmental Monitoring Data System (EnMoDS) results, Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Branch, Province of BC, records to September 19, 2026 (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); lake outlines and names: Freshwater Atlas lakes, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Summaries by PlaceDossier.

Other rankings: most-sampled lakes.