Deepest lakes & reservoirs in South Carolina by maximum depth (ft)
The estimated greatest depth of the water in a lake can be measured at the lake’s normal elevation. If the water volume and surface area of a lake are known, an estimate of the lake’s average depth can be calculated:Water volume ÷ Surface Area = Average Depth
Example: 1,000,000 acre-feet ÷ 20,000 acres = 50 feet average depth.
You can find many of the the world’s deepest lakes on LakeLubbers. If you sort the list, you will find the (maximum depth of) the shallowest lakes in our database. Note: For some lakes, lake depth data is unknown, so this table may display fewer lakes than the total 15 articles we have published for South Carolina lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US South Region > South Carolina > Compared by maximum depth in feet. This list does not represent all lakes in South Carolina, only the 15 South Carolina lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Max depth in feet |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Jocassee, NC/SC (Mountains Region, NC, North Carolina, South Carolina, The Upcountry, SC, US South Region, USA) |
326 ft | Nestled into the pristine Appalachian mountains of northwestern South Carolina and southwestern North Carolina, Lake Jocassee reaches its watery depth… |
| Lake Keowee, SC (South Carolina, The Upcountry, SC, US South Region, USA) |
297 ft | Lake Keowee is a freshwater lake located in northwestern South Carolina at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The lake supplies water to the n… |
| Lake Wylie (North Carolina, Olde English District, SC, Piedmont Region, NC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
240 ft | Also known as Lake Wylie Reservoir Spanning the North Carolina-South Carolina border, Lake Wylie is the oldest reservoir on the Catawba River. First dammed in 1904, the dam was rebuilt… |
| Lake Murray, SC (Capital City & Lake Murray Country, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
200 ft | The kayak slips quietly through the water, dipping in and out of the finger coves that fringe the lake. The sun is just peeking over the horizon. For… |
| Hartwell Lake, GA/SC (Georgia, Northeast Georgia Mountains Region, South Carolina, The Upcountry, SC, US South Region, USA) |
185 ft | Also known as Lake Hartwell So large it covers parts of six counties in two states, Lake Hartwell draws millions of visitors a year to play on its 56,000 acres of water. With ple… |
| J. Strom Thurmond Lake, GA/SC (Classic South Region, GA, Georgia, Old 96 District, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
180 ft | Also known as Lake Strom Thurmond, J. Strom Thurmond Reservoir, Clarks Hill Lake, Thurmond Lake J. Strom Thurmond Lake, aka Clarks Hill Lake, holds the title of second largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi River. Straddling the Georgia-… |
| Richard B. Russell Lake, GA/SC (Georgia, Northeast Georgia Mountains Region, Old 96 District, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
165 ft | Also known as Lake Russell Richard B. Russell Lake, sometimes nicknamed Lake Russell, claims 26,650 sparkling acres and 540 miles of shoreline on the Georgia-South Carolina stat… |
| Fishing Creek Reservoir, SC (Olde English District, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
90 ft | Also known as Nitrolee Dam, Fishing Creek Lake Fishing Creek Reservoir, on the Catawba River in the Old English Region of South Carolina is aptly named: the 3112-acre lake provides a steady source… |
| Lake Greenwood, SC (Old 96 District, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
69 ft | Lake Greenwood, located in the counties of Greenwood, Laurens, and Newberry, is one of South Carolina’s more popular lakes. Stretching 20 miles and wi… |
| Lake Wateree, SC (Olde English District, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
63 ft | Also known as Wateree Lake Lake Wateree lies 30 miles northeast of Columbia, South Carolina near Interstate 77. Duke Energy created the lake in 1920 by building a dam on the Cat… |
| Lake Moultrie, SC (Santee Cooper Country, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
50 ft | Lake Moultrie is located 31 miles north of Charleston in the low country of South Carolina. The lake is renowned for both its fishing and its natural… |
| Lake Marion, SC (Santee Cooper Country, SC, South Carolina, US South Region, USA) |
50 ft | The largest lake in South Carolina at 172 square miles, Lake Marion straddles five counties: Berkeley, Calhoun, Clarendon, Orangeburg, and Sumter. It… |