Largest lakes & reservoirs in Central Minnesota by water volume
The estimated volume of water that a lake contains is measured at the lake’s normal elevation. By this measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is Siberia’s Lake Baikal.Water Volume can be measured in acre-feet, in cubic miles, or in cubic kilometers. One acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre (43,560 square feet) to a depth of one foot. One cubic mile equals 3,379,200 acre-feet. One cubic kilometer equals 810,713 acre-feet. 1 acre-foot is equal to 325,851 US gallons. Siberia’s Lake Baikal contains about 6,276,367,740,000,000 gallons of freshwater – nearly 1 million gallons for every living person on earth.
The other – and more widely used – measure of a lake’s size is the lake’s surface acreage. By that measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is North America’s Lake Superior.
Note: In the United States, an acre foot is a unit of volume used to refer to large-scale bodies of water. It is defined by the volume of water needed to cover 1 acre of surface area to a depth of 1 foot.
You can find many of the the world’s largest lakes (by water volume) on LakeLubbers. Note: For some lakes, the water volume data is unknown or does not apply, so you may see fewer lakes than the total 44 articles we have published for Central Minnesota lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US Midwest Region > Minnesota > Central Minnesota > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in Central Minnesota, only the 44 Central Minnesota lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Mille Lacs Lake, MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
2,782,736 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Mille Lacs) August 2015 Update: The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued an order August 2, 2015 banning walleye fishing for the rest of the season. T… |
| Otter Tail Lake, MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
506,000 ac-ft | With over 13,000 acres of water and 22 miles of shoreline, Otter Tail Lake is the largest lake in Otter Tail County and is located in the Central tour… |
| Lake Traverse, MN/SD (Central Minnesota, Glacial Lakes & Prairies Region, SD, Minnesota, South Dakota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
164,500 ac-ft | Lake Traverse straddles the border of Minnesota’s Central tourism region and South Dakota’s northeastern Great Lakes and Prairie region. Covering more… |
| Lake Osakis, MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
108,389 ac-ft | (Also known as Osakis Lake) Lake Osakis, stretched across the prairie in the Central Region of Minnesota, has been a vacation destination for several generations of ‘lake lubbers… |
| Whitefish Chain of Lakes (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
101,340 ac-ft | (Also known as Pine River Reservoir) Whitefish Chain of Lakes, also known as the Pine River Reservoir, is one of six Mississippi River Headwater Reservoirs in central Minnesota. Located i… |
| Big Stone Lake, MN/SD (Central Minnesota, Glacial Lakes & Prairies Region, SD, Minnesota, South Dakota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
98,880 ac-ft | Big Stone Lake’s sparkling blue water covers 12,360 acres and forms the border between western Minnesota and northeastern South Dakota. This picturesq… |
| North Long Lake, MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
96,098 ac-ft | (Also known as Brainerd Lakes) Covering almost 6,000 acres, North Long Lake is one of the largest and most popular of the Brainerd Lakes. North Long Lake is located in the Central R… |
| Pelican Lake-Otter Tail County, MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
90,109 ac-ft | Pelican Lake is a 3,925-acre lake located in northwestern Otter Tail County approximately 7 miles north of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. Pelican Lake is… |
| Lake Lida, MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
89,024 ac-ft | (Also known as North Lake Lida) Located in the Central Region of Minnesota, Lake Lida (also known as North Lake Lida) is a 5,564-acre lake known for its prime walleye fishing. With a… |
| Big Birch Lake, MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
57,900 ac-ft | Big Birch Lake lies at the heart of Minnesota. With sparkling water spread across Todd and Stearns County lines, Big Birch Lake is at the geographic c… |
| Cedar Lake MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
48,787 ac-ft | Visitors never tire of exploring Cedar Lake, Minnesota with its many twists, turns, bays, and coves. Cedar Lake is a spring- and small stream-fed lake… |
| Gull Lake, MN (Central Minnesota, Minnesota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
43,900 ac-ft | (Also known as Brainerd Lakes) Gull Lake, located in the Central Region of Minnesota’s “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, boasts 9,418 surface acres and 38 miles of pristine shoreline. The dee… |