Largest lakes & reservoirs in Illinois 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 64 articles we have published for Illinois lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US Midwest Region > Illinois > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in Illinois, only the 64 Illinois lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Michigan-Huron (Canada, Chicagoland Region, IL, Great Lakes of North America, Illinois, Indiana, Lake Michigan Region, WI, Michigan, North Indiana, Northeast Michigan, Northwest Michigan, Ontario, Canada, Southwest Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI, West Central Michigan, Wisconsin) |
6,858,776,000 ac-ft | Lake Michigan and Lake Huron – two of North America’s Great Lakes – are contiguous and they share the same elevation of 577 feet above sea level. They… |
| Lake Michigan (Chicagoland Region, IL, Great Lakes of North America, Illinois, Indiana, Lake Michigan Region, WI, Michigan, North Indiana, Northwest Michigan, Southwest Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI, West Central Michigan, Wisconsin) |
3,987,456,000 ac-ft | As the only Great Lake nestled completely within the boundaries of the United States, Lake Michigan is the pride and joy of Wisconsin, Illinois, India… |
| Lake Shelbyville, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
210,000 ac-ft | (Also known as Shelbyville Lake, Shelbyville Reservoir) Seventeen miles and thousands of acres of water stretch out in front of power boaters leaving the dam at Lake Shelbyville. In addition to its wide exp… |
| Rend Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
184,675 ac-ft | Rend Lake, located in southern Illinois, is a fantastic place to enjoy all sorts of outdoor recreational activities. This reservoir, the second larges… |
| Kinkaid Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
78,500 ac-ft | Kinkaid Lake is a scenic 2,350-acre reservoir surrounded by sandstone bluffs and rolling hills of oaks and hickories on the edge of the Shawnee Nation… |
| Crab Orchard Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
57,800 ac-ft | Crab Orchard Lake is the largest of three reservoirs that are part of the 43,899-acre Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Williamson… |
| Little Grassy Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
27,000 ac-ft | Surrounded by watchful forest trees and open grasslands, the Little Grassy Lake is a quiet body of water sitting in the middle of a Southern Illinois… |
| Cedar Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
25,000 ac-ft | Cedar Lake is located at the edge of the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. This 1,750-acre reservoir was created by the City of Carbondale… |
| Devils Kitchen Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
24,500 ac-ft | (Also known as Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge) Devils Kitchen Lake is one of three lakes (the other two are Crab Orchard Lake and Little Grassy Lake) that are part of the Crab Orchard National Wild… |
| Evergreen Lake (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
15,480 ac-ft | (Also known as Evergreen Reservoir) One of Central Illinois’ best-kept secret lies just north of Bloomington: Evergreen Lake. When the growing city needed additional water supply in 1971… |
| Pistakee Lake (Chicagoland Region, IL, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
13,081 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Pistakee, Fox Chain O'Lakes) Pistakee Lake is a well-known destination to generations of Chicago area Lakelubbers. Located on the famous Fox River Chain of Lakes in the Chicagolan… |
| East Fork Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
12,460 ac-ft | (Also known as East Fork Reservoir) East Fork Lake, in the Southern Region of Illinois, is a well-kept secret in a land of many secrets. The southern third of Illinois has been known as… |