Largest lakes & reservoirs in New York 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 72 articles we have published for New York lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US Mid-Atlantic Region > New York > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in New York, only the 72 New York lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Ontario (Canada, Finger Lakes Region, NY, Great Lakes of North America, Greater Niagara Region, NY, New York, Ontario, Canada, Thousand Islands Region, NY, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
1,328,025,600 ac-ft | Lake Ontario, one of the world’s five Great Lakes, weaves over state and country borders, delighting Americans, Canadians, and visiting tourists with… |
| Lake Erie (Canada, Chautauqua-Allegheny Region, NY, Great Lakes Region, PA, Great Lakes of North America, Greater Niagara Region, NY, Michigan, New York, Northeast Ohio, Northwest Ohio, Ohio, Ontario, Canada, Pennsylvania, Southeast Michigan, US Mid-Atlantic Region, US Midwest Region, USA) |
391,987,200 ac-ft | Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes of North America, straddles the borders of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and the Canadian province of Onta… |
| Lake Champlain (Adirondacks Region, NY, Canada, Lake Champlain Valley Region, VT, New York, Quebec, Canada, US Mid-Atlantic Region, US New England Region, USA, Vermont) |
20,916,400 ac-ft | Lake Champlain, straddling New York and Vermont in the USA, and Quebec in Canada, is a natural freshwater lake seated 96 feet above sea level. Briefly… |
| Seneca Lake, NY (Finger Lakes Region, NY, New York, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
12,566,054 ac-ft | Seneca Lake, one of western New York’s famous Finger Lakes, is the largest lake to be entirely contained within the borders of the state. Seneca Lake… |
| Cayuga Lake, NY (Finger Lakes Region, NY, New York, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
7,672,208 ac-ft | Cayuga Lake, located in western New York, is the second largest Finger Lake in both surface area and volume. Boasting 38.2 miles in length, 1.7 miles… |
| Lake George, NY (Adirondacks Region, NY, New York, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
2,380,000 ac-ft | Sitting pretty at the base of New York’s majestic Adirondack Mountains, Lake George’s nickname is “Queen of American Lakes.” The 28,000-acre glacial l… |
| Lake St. Francis, NY / Canada (Canada, New York, Ontario, Canada, Quebec, Canada, Thousand Islands Region, NY, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
2,269,997 ac-ft | (Also known as Lac Saint-Francois) Lake St. Francis is part of the 2,340 mile system of locks, canals, and channels that link the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence… |
| Skaneateles Lake, NY (Finger Lakes Region, NY, New York, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
1,301,206 ac-ft | Skaneateles Lake, pronounced “skany-atlas” or “skinny-atlas,” is one of New York’s famous Finger Lakes. Its name means “long lake” in one of the local… |
| Great Sacandaga Lake, NY (Adirondacks Region, NY, Capital-Saratoga Region, NY, New York, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
865,473 ac-ft | (Also known as Great Sacanadaga Reservoir) Great Sacandaga Lake, located in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, is a reservoir built to control flooding on the Hudson River and the Sacandaga… |
| Owasco Lake, NY (Finger Lakes Region, NY, New York, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
650,603 ac-ft | Owasco Lake is the sixth largest of the eleven Finger Lakes. Its name, from a Mohawk or Iroquois term, translates to “crossing.” The Finger Lakes were… |
| Conesus Lake, NY (Finger Lakes Region, NY, New York, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
586,392 ac-ft | Livingston County, New York considers Conesus Lake to be its pride and joy, the jewel of the county. Indeed, this Finger Lake’s original Seneca name m… |
| Allegheny Reservoir, NY/PA (Chautauqua-Allegheny Region, NY, New York, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Wilds Region, US Mid-Atlantic Region, USA) |
579,840 ac-ft | (Also known as Kinzua Dam Lake, Kinzua Lake, Lake Kinzua) Flowing across tree-covered hills in northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York, the Allegheny Reservoir’s 12,080 acres provide an open invit… |