Largest lakes & reservoirs in Canada 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 164 articles we have published for Canada lakes.
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Below are lakes within Canada > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in Canada, only the 164 Canada lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name | Water vol. in ac-ft | Lake description |
---|---|---|
Nettilling Lake, NU (Canada, Nunavut, Canada) |
92,421,304 ac-ft | Biting wind batters the exposed part of your face while snow collects on your parka like dust. The dogs keep pace as your sled slips across the ground … |
Reindeer Lake, MB (Canada, Manitoba, Canada, Saskatchewan, Canada) |
77,219,200 ac-ft | Reindeer Lake is the one of the largest lakes in North America, covering about 1,500,000 acres and spanning the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba pr … |
Wollaston Lake, SK (Canada, Saskatchewan, Canada) |
60,803,490 ac-ft | Wilderness adventures draw people to Wollaston Lake in northeastern Saskatchewan. Sparsely populated, Wollaston Lake is home to copious amounts of wil … |
Kootenay Lake, BC (British Columbia, Canada, Canada) |
29,753,174 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Kootenay) Kootenay Lake’s deep, clear waters stretch over 60 miles and 96,000 acres, reflecting the icy peaks of Kokanee Glacier. The lake is beautiful, ringed … |
Caniapiscau Reservoir, QC (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
27,777,024 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Caniapiscau) “The money is not as useful as the land was before we lost it.” -Chisasibi Cree Native About 9,000 years ago, the glaciers receded on the Laurentian P … |
Smallwood Reservoir, NL (Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) |
23,486,361 ac-ft | Wild, diverse and always impressive, Smallwood Reservoir is not a place to be taken lightly. Smallwood Reservoir is not a place for leisurely lakeside … |
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 … |
Okanagan Lake, BC (British Columbia, Canada, Canada) |
19,943,545 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake Okanagan) Okanagan Lake, located in British Columbia’s Napa of the North Country, is a vacationer’s paradise. Its sheer size and convenient location make this w … |
Lake of the Woods, MN / Canada (Canada, Manitoba, Canada, Minnesota, Northwest Minnesota, Ontario, Canada, US Midwest Region, USA) |
15,700,000 ac-ft | Spanning the border from Minnesota into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, Lake of the Woods is an enormous body of water over 68 miles l … |
Shuswap Lake, BC (British Columbia, Canada, Canada) |
15,484,622 ac-ft | With 889 miles of shoreline and a multitude of provincial parks, 76,602-acre Shuswap Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia offers unlimite … |
Lake Manitoba, MB (Canada, Manitoba, Canada) |
11,431,056 ac-ft | Lake Manitoba is located in central Manitoba about 45 miles northwest of the city of Winnipeg. It is one of the best fishing and outdoor natural lakes … |
Pipmuacan Reservoir (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
11,151,360 ac-ft | (Also known as Reservoir Pipmuacan) Far to the north in Quebec’s vast evergreen forests, Pipmuacan Reservoir performs unseen yet vital service to the customers of Hydro-Quebec. About 90% … |