Largest lakes & reservoirs in Southeast Michigan 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 15 articles we have published for Southeast Michigan lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US Midwest Region > Michigan > Southeast Michigan > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in Southeast Michigan, only the 15 Southeast Michigan lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Saint Clair, MI / Canada (Canada, Michigan, Ontario, Canada, Southeast Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA) |
2,770,944 ac-ft | (Also known as Lake St. Clair) Heart-shaped Lake Saint Clair is the smallest body of water in the Great Lakes system. Tucked between Lake Huron to the north and Lake Erie to the sou … |
| Cass Lake, MI (Michigan, Southeast Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA) |
33,065 ac-ft | Michigan is fortunate to have many fishing and water sport destination options. Cass Lake, just a 30-mile ride from Detroit, is a popular freshwater l … |
| Orchard Lake, MI (Michigan, Southeast Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA) |
17,402 ac-ft | Orchard Lake is a 788-acre natural lake in southeastern Michigan, just three miles from the city of Pontiac and 25 miles from Detroit. This residentia … |
| Whitmore Lake (Michigan, Southeast Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA) |
9,590 ac-ft | By far the most popular residential lake in the Ann Arbor area is Whitmore Lake. For nearly 100 years this natural lake in the Southeast region of Mic … |