Largest lakes & reservoirs in West Virginia 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 12 articles we have published for West Virginia lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US South Region > West Virginia > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in West Virginia, only the 12 West Virginia lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Summersville Lake, WV (Mountain Lakes Region, WV, US South Region, USA, West Virginia) |
191,540 ac-ft | (Also known as Summersville Reservoir) Scenic Summersville Lake is the largest lake in West Virginia. The reservoir was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control on the Ga… |
| Jennings Randolph Lake, MD/WV (Maryland, Potomac Highlands Region, WV, US Mid-Atlantic Region, US South Region, USA, West Virginia, Western Maryland) |
130,900 ac-ft | (Also known as Jennings Randolph Reservoir, Bloomington Lake) Jennings Randolph Lake is nestled in a scenic valley along the North Branch Potomac River. This portion of the Potomac creates the county and state bo… |
| Tygart Lake, WV (Mountaineer Country, WV, US South Region, USA, West Virginia) |
109,600 ac-ft | The wilderness song of Tygart Lake calls to fishing enthusiasts, boaters, campers, hikers, writers and artisans. Located near the beautiful Appalachia… |
| Cheat Lake, WV (Mountaineer Country, WV, US South Region, USA, West Virginia) |
72,300 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Lynn) A dam built across the Cheat River in 1925 created the scenic reservoir of Cheat Lake. Originally called Lake Lynn, the dam sits nearly at the border… |
| Bluestone Lake, WV (New River-Greenbrier Valley Region, WV, US South Region, USA, West Virginia) |
38,350 ac-ft | Amidst the beautiful scenery of southern West Virginia lies the long, narrow Bluestone Lake. This reservoir, the third largest lake in West Virginia,… |
| Stonecoal Reservoir, WV (Mountain Lakes Region, WV, US South Region, USA, West Virginia) |
25,800 ac-ft | (Also known as Stonecoal Lake) Stonecoal Reservoir is a 550-acre lake nestled in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains between the cities of Weston and Buckhannon, West Virginia.… |
| Burnsville Lake, WV (Mountain Lakes Region, WV, US South Region, USA, West Virginia) |
14,400 ac-ft | (Also known as Burnsville Reservoir) Beautiful Burnsville Lake was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding along the Little Kanawha River. The Corps began construc… |
| Beech Fork Lake, WV (Metro Valley Region, WV, US South Region, USA, West Virginia) |
9,180 ac-ft | Nestled in the verdant West Virginia hills off of Interstate 64 in Wayne County, Beech Fork Lake provides endless entertainment for visitors seeking a… |