Largest lakes & reservoirs in Kentucky 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 17 articles we have published for Kentucky lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US South Region > Kentucky > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in Kentucky, only the 17 Kentucky lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Kentucky Lake, KY/TN (Kentucky, Tennessee, US South Region, USA, West Tennessee, Western Waterlands Region, KY) |
4,008,000 ac-ft | Kentucky Lake is the largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi when measured by surface acres at “full pond,” the normal water level: 184 miles lo… |
| Lake Cumberland, KY (Kentucky, Southern Lakes Region, KY, US South Region, USA) |
3,995,000 ac-ft | Lake Cumberland boasts an impressive 50,250 acres and 1,255 miles of winding shoreline at its normal full pool level of 723 feet above sea level. The… |
| Herrington Lake, KY (Bluegrass Region, KY, Kentucky, US South Region, USA) |
537,000 ac-ft | Meandering 32 miles across the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky is Herrington Lake. The first large impoundment in Kentucky, Herrington Lake was created i… |
| Laurel River Lake, KY (Daniel Boone Country, KY, Kentucky, US South Region, USA) |
435,000 ac-ft | Laurel River Lake was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1974 to provide flood control and hydroelectric power to its neighboring areas, b… |
| Barren River Lake, KY (Caves, Lakes & Corvettes Region, KY, Kentucky, US South Region, USA) |
190,320 ac-ft | Barren River Lake, located in south-central Kentucky, is one of the state’s hidden jewels, covering over 10,100 acres. The lake was created by the Lou… |
| Nolin River Lake, KY (Caves, Lakes & Corvettes Region, KY, Kentucky, US South Region, USA) |
170,140 ac-ft | Tucked into the hills of south central Kentucky, 5,795 acre Nolin River Lake shares residence among Edmonson, Grayson, and Hart counties. Created by t… |
| Taylorsville Lake, KY (Kentucky, Kentucky Derby Region, KY, US South Region, USA) |
86,440 ac-ft | Located in central Kentucky just 25 miles southeast of Louisville is 3,050 acre Taylorsville Lake. Created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1983… |
| Reelfoot Lake, KY/TN (Kentucky, Tennessee, US South Region, USA, West Tennessee, Western Waterlands Region, KY) |
80,300 ac-ft | Reelfoot Lake makes its home in northwestern Tennessee and extends into southern Kentucky. The lake is young: popular history says that after the New… |
| Yatesville Lake (Appalachians Region, KY, Kentucky, US South Region, USA) |
63,000 ac-ft | (Also known as Yatesville Lake State Park) The newest star in the Kentucky Appalachians region is Yatesville Lake. Very young as lakes go, Yatesville Lake was created in 1991 when the US Army C… |
| Paintsville Lake, KY (Appalachians Region, KY, Kentucky, US South Region, USA) |
40,700 ac-ft | Sharing acreage of both Johnson and Morgan counties in eastern Kentucky, Paintsville Lake has been a recreational staple since its creation in 1983. T… |