Largest lakes & reservoirs in North Dakota 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 8 articles we have published for North Dakota lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US Midwest Region > North Dakota > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in North Dakota, only the 8 North Dakota lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Sakakawea, ND (North Dakota, Northwest Region, ND, US Midwest Region, USA) |
23,821,000 ac-ft | The second-largest reservoir by surface acreage in the United States (and third-largest in volume), Lake Sakakawea stretches 178 miles from Garrison D… |
| Lake Oahe, ND/SD (Great Lakes Region, SD, North Dakota, South Central Region, ND, South Dakota, Southwest Region, ND, US Midwest Region, USA) |
23,137,000 ac-ft | Lake Oahe, named after an Oahe Indian Mission, roughly translates “a foundation” or “a place to stand on.” Spanning 231 miles from Pierre, South Dakot… |
| Lake Darling, ND (North Dakota, Northwest Region, ND, US Midwest Region, USA) |
92,031 ac-ft | Lake Darling is the focal point of the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge located in northwest North Dakota. The Refuge is beautifully situated alo… |
| Lake Ashtabula, ND (North Dakota, Southeast Region, ND, US Midwest Region, USA) |
70,573 ac-ft | Lake Ashtabula is located among the gentle rolling prairies of southeastern North Dakota. Stretching 27 miles along the Sheyenne River, Lake Ashtabula… |
| Pipestem Lake, ND (North Dakota, South Central Region, ND, US Midwest Region, USA) |
32,000 ac-ft | Pipestem Lake stretches five and a half miles long on Pipestem Creek in south-central North Dakota, just a few miles north of Jamestown. With 840 acre… |
| Bowman Haley Lake, ND (North Dakota, Southwest Region, ND, US Midwest Region, USA) |
18,765 ac-ft | (Also known as Bowman-Haley Lake) Bowman Haley Lake, located in Southwestern North Dakota, was once a Sioux hunting ground. Bowman Haley Lake is now a 1,740-acre lake surrounded by rol… |
| Lake Metigoshe (Canada, Manitoba, Canada, North Central Region, ND, North Dakota, US Midwest Region, USA) |
17,446 ac-ft | One of the best spots for water recreation in North Dakota’s North Central region is Lake Metigoshe. Often called the ‘Jewel of the Turtle Mountains’,… |